Telangana Minister Jupally Krishna Rao assures financial support for rain-affected farmers, hits out at BRS

Telangana Excise and Prohibition Minister Jupally Krishna Rao has assured the farmers that the government is committed to providing financial help to the cultivators whose crops were damaged due to unseasonal rains. The minister also condemned Harish Rao's statement, threatening to besiege the Secretariat if crop loss compensation was not provided to farmers.

"The incident is not even 15 days old and already the CM has instructed the concerned agriculture minister to visit the area and inspect how many acres were damaged. They have yet to submit the report. Once they submit the report, this government is ready, and we have announced that we will pay. For the last ten years, several times due to heavy rains and drought, farmers have faced several losses," he said. The Congress minister hit out at Harish Rao and said, "He made this state enter into a death trap. So they have no right to comment. This government is hardly three months old, but whatever we promise, we will do it."

The state minister also said that the former KCR never visited a farmer in his 10 years of rule, despite being the Chief Minister and never announced any compensation. "A total of 6,651 farmers committed suicide in the state in the last 10 years under the BRS regime but Rao remained silent. Crops got damaged every year due to unseasonal rains but none from the BRS reached out to farmers," the Congress leader said while addressing the media here on Tuesday.

He also questioned whether crop loss compensation, input subsidies, and crop insurance had ever been implemented during the BRS regime. Hailstorms accompanied by gusty winds damaged standing crops in thousands of acres in the state.