Vijayawada: Government draws criticism for not acting on drought conditions

VIJAYAWADA : CPI State secretary K Ramakrishna criticised Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy for not responding to the drought and dry spell conditions prevailing in over 300 mandals in the State.

Addressing the media at the State party office Dasari Bhavan here on Wednesday, Ramakrishna pointed out that Rayalaseema region is reeling under severe drought conditions and farmers could not cultivate crops in lakhs of acres in the Kharif season.

He said the farmers are unlikely to cultivate red gram and groundnut crops due to the drought conditions. He said there is no scope of getting water in the Nagarajuna Sagar ayacut areas. Out of 679 mandals in the State, 300 mandals are facing drought conditions. He came down heavily on the Chief Minister for failing to respond to farmers’ problems.

He said neighbouring Karnataka government has conducted a study on the drought mandals in September and also invited the Central teams to assess the drought situation. The Karnataka government has submitted a report to the Centre on the drought and sought the Central government’s assistance.

He alleged that the Chief Minister is always thinking about the courts, jails and on how to indulge in political vendetta and totally ignoring the farmers’ plight.

Ramakrishna said that the CPI in its State council meeting to be held in Vijayawada on October 27 and 28 will discuss the drought situation and would announce future course of action. He said the CPI would launch an agitation on drought conditions and will work with other political parties and farmers associations on the issue.

He said due to the prevailing political situation in the State, several other important issues were getting sidelined.

Referring to the State BJP president D Purandeswari submitting a representation to Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman seeking forensic audit on the financial condition of the State, he wondered if the State government was taking loans without the knowledge of the Centre. He said the State is in a debt trap and Central government should tell people if it was going to conduct a forensic audit.

He also sought the Centre’s response on the representation submitted by Purandeswari on the alleged liquor scam in Andhra Pradesh. CPI State assistant secretary J V Satyanarayana Murthy and secretariat member KVV Prasad participated in the press conference.