National leaders to visit Konaseema this month

AMALAPURAM: Telugu Desam president N Chandrababu Naidu has vowed to fight against the government until farmers get profitable price, not just minimum support price, for their produce.Addressing a huge gathering of farmers at Kapu Kalyana Mandapam here on Friday, the second day of his tour of Konaseema area, he said the ‘crop holidays' being declared by helpless farmers was now a national issue. The TDP would, along with other political parties, stall Parliament if the government did not take steps to mitigate farmers' sufferings, he warned and announced that national leaders of political parties would visit Konaseema in the last week of this month to know the reasons for crop holiday.The TDP will convene a meeting with the leaders in Hyderabad to draw an action plan in support of the agitating farmers.He assured to strive for establishment of coconut board in the Konaseema area and appealed to the government to provide a special package of assistance to all farmers in Konaseema where about 10 farmers had committed suicide so far. He urged the Union government to implement the recommendations of the MS Swaminathan Committee's recommendations immediately.The state government, which failed to create adequate storage space for foodgrains , provided godowns for liquor stocks, he remarked sarcastically and asked farmers to be prepared to stage protest in Delhi.Konaseema Rytu Parirakshana Samiti president R Bose and vice-president Bhaskar Rao, and others warned the government that the 'crop holiday' would be continued in the Rabi season also if the government failed to pay profitable price for their produce. “If industrialists can fix the sale price of their products, why not farmers?'' they asked.Another complaint made by the farmers' leaders was that the National Rural Employment Guarantee Programme was attracting agricultural labourers and it was becoming difficult to get workers for agricultural operations.They said the government, which raises the salaries and DA of its employees frequently, for not increasing price of paddy and demanded `2,033 as minimum support price per quintal as recommended by the Swaminathan Committee.