Govt 'pro-ryots', CM 'rythu bandhava': Minister

Kakinada, May 17 (UNI) Andhra Pradesh Small Scale Industries Minister Gollapalli Suryarao today said that the state government is 'pro-ryots' and described the Chief Minister Y S Rajasekhara Reddy as 'rythu bandhava'.

Participating as the Chief Guest of the inaugural function of the Rythu Chaitanya Yathra here, Mr Suryarao said the government had accorded top priority to agriculture, next to Jalayagnam project, and had initiated several programmes for the welfare of the ryots.

He claimed that the government had waived the electricity bill arrears and provided free power to 20,000 ryots in the district, besides extending the debt relief.

The aim of Rythu Chaitanya Yathra to be held till June three was to create an awareness among the ryots on the modern agricultural practices for achieving optimum farm yields with minimum investment, he added.

District Collector Gopalakrishna Dwivedi said the Rythu Chaitanya Yathra would be followed by Rythu Sadassus at divisional level from June five to June eight.

UNI XR/AP GKT 1851