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"TDP policies to blame for ryots' suicide"

By Our Staff Reporter

CUDDAPAH, JUNE 27. Farmers who were adversely hit and steeped in debts, due to the lopsided policies of the nine-year Telugu Desam rule, were still continuing to commit suicide, alleged the Cuddapah Zilla Parishad chairman, K. Suresh Babu, on Sunday.

He flagged off a 70-km. bicycle rally from Cuddapah to Pulivendula by Multi-Purpose Extension Officers of Agriculture Department, in order to motivate farmers not to end their lives in despair.

Addressing them at the Joint Director of Agriculture office here, the ZP chief attributed the farmers' suicides to the gross neglect of the agricultural sector by the previous TDP Government. Moreover, the lack of irrigation facilities and remunerative prices, improper power supply, spurious seeds, fertilisers and pesticides were also factors driving ryots to end their lives, he observed. Asserting that the Chief Minister, Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy, was according top priority to the farmers' welfare, Mr. Suresh Babu urged the farmers to apprise the Government of their problems through the Farmers' Helpline on the toll-free No. 1077 and seek assistance.

The Government allotted 54,000 quintals of groundnut seeds to Cuddapah district. He appealed to ryots not to lose hope and end their lives, but raise crops following the suggestions of agricultural officers.

The Cuddapah MLA, Md. Ahmedullah, said that the Government was planning to extend bank loans to farmers at nominal interest. The Cuddapah ZP vice-chairman, P. Ravindranath Reddy, said the Government was taking steps to ensure timely supply of seeds, fertilisers and pesticides and also striving to complete the irrigate projects expeditiously.

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