Leader of the Opposition in the Council Mohammed Ali Shabbir today said Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao was only focusing on non-productive activities in the last three years even as farmers were facing water shortage and unable to get bank loans due to half-hearted loan waiver program. He said the CM turned Telangana No 2 in farmers’ suicides.
In a press release here today, Shabbir Ali said, “Without rains in the last 20 days, crops like paddy, maize and cotton were withering and a drought like situation has emerged in the State for third successive year”. He said though total crop area was 1.08 crore acres, only 35 lakh acres were under irrigation of which only 30 lakh acres were sown this year. Agriculture Minister himself had declared that the situation was alarming with a 534 TMC deficit in Godavari out of that 395 TMC shortfall in Krishna basin alone.
He urging the government to immediately declare more areas as drought affected and consult the Centre and experts on how to avoid hardships to farmers and farm labor with MNREGA, subsidies and so on instead of holding talks with Karnataka and AP on water issues. Stating that the Chief Minister was functioning like emperor Nero, who was partying while Rome was burning, Shabbir Ali said Chief Minister’s camp office spreads over 11 acres built at a cost of Rs 300 crore was bigger than that of Prime Minister Narendra Modi on 7, Race Course Road, Delhi.
Shabbir Ali also faulted the Chief Minister for taking up with the Prime Minister for allotment of Bison Polo ground and increase of Assembly seats during his recent Delhi trip. Why no discussion about promises under the AP Reorganization Act, 2014 like Railway Coach Factory, Power Generation, Bayyaram Steel Factory and so on taken up, he asked. (NSS)