dailyO
Politics

How KCR plans to win farmers over ahead of 2019 Assembly elections

Advertisement
Amarnath K Menon
Amarnath K MenonNov 15, 2017 | 10:38

How KCR plans to win farmers over ahead of 2019 Assembly elections

Come January 1, the farming community throughout Telangana can switch on the 23,60,000-odd agriculture pump sets at any time of their choice and be assured of uninterrupted supply of power. Chief minister K Chandrasekhar Rao is making this possible by the concerted campaign, since the state came into being in June 2014, to build rapidly the requisite power generation and distribution infrastructure in the state.

Advertisement

Power supply to farms will be available round-the-clock from the new year, after the weeklong test run from November 6 to assess operational issues revealed a few glitches.

The 24x7 power supply to farms would require another Rs 617 crore, pushing up the annual costs for the state to Rs 5,394 crore. KCR is providing for it to fulfill a pre-poll promise, and in working towards realising a green and prosperous state which he envisions as "Bangaru Telangana."

At the same time, the chief minister has appealed to the farming community to remove auto-starters not only to save wastage of energy but also to make optimal use of precious groundwater. The power utilities are to take up a drive to make farmers aware of the need to dispense with auto-starters and help avoid wastage totally.

“Elected representatives should also play a role in this, for when the demand for power peaks between March and May to reach about 11,500mw the power utilities may have to buy some additional power for which arrangements have already been made,” emphasised the chief minister. Clearly, he wants to win over the farming community with an eye on the next assembly elections.

Advertisement

kcr-copy_111517103121.jpg

Assured power supply is the latest of such measures announced by KCR. Another significant one in the works is to give farmers a grant of Rs 4,000 as input subsidy for an acre for each crop season from next year. Even before that is rolled out, he is putting in place Rythu Samnvaya Samithis (RSS), or farmer coordination councils, in all villages by enlisting TRS activists. “These councils will comprise TRS members only as they had fought for the achievement of Telangana,” said KCR, pointing out how the earlier Congress and TDP governments had packed similar farmer organisations with their supporters in the past.

The RSS is aimed at organising farmers and ensuring that they get the minimum support price and are not exploited by middlemen and traders. These councils will have no powers except in playing the role of facilitators and would not be paid any salaries. The apex state-level council would be registered as a corporation for which the government would provide a bank guarantee and seed funds to buy the farmers produce, ensuring a minimum support price, in case traders back off.

KCR said this intervention had become imperative due to the criminal negligence of the farming community by earlier governments, which forced them into hardship.

Advertisement

The rival Congress, BJP and TDP leaders, apprehensive of the government’s move, have questioned the need to create these councils when there were elected bodies like the gram panchayats, cooperative societies, and market committees. But the chief minister is to rely on a vehicle of his choice to drive the TRS government’s policies.

(Courtesy of Mail Today.)

Last updated: November 15, 2017 | 14:36
IN THIS STORY
Please log in
I agree with DailyO's privacy policy