Farmers suicide on rise in state, alleges TDP
Hyderabad, Sep 12 (UNI) Telugu Desam Party (TDP) President N Chandrababu Naidu today claimed that farmers' suicide was on the rise in Andhra Pradesh as the government had failed to come to their rescue.
At a press conference, he alleged 3,302 farmers ended their lives after the Congress assumed office two and a half years ago. Over 230 farmers were electrocuted in the last one year as power was supplied at odd hours, he said, and demanded that the government compensate them.
Stating that a lot of inconsistencies were there in the figures released by the Congress regime, he said the government had put farmers' suicides at over 4,200 in the memorandum submitted to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, while seeking a special package for farmers.
He demanded that the government come out with the list of families who were provided Rs 1.50 lakh ex-gratia.
For the first time, farmers in the state were finding it difficult during the khariff season to get power for their pumpsets, he said, and wanted the government to hike the supply to nine hours.
He said the state was facing acute power shortage and low voltage problem due to alleged mismanagement by the government at a time when all the reservoirs were full and hydel power could be generated.
Distressed farmers, who should be busy in their fields, were spending most of their time going to power sub-stations, he lamented, and urged TDP men to assist farmers by taking up the matter with officials.
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