Andhra Pradesh - Anantapur   

CPI plans stir for input subsidy

By Our Staff Reporter

ANANTAPUR, OCT. 8. Signalling the end of honeymoon with the Congress, at least in Anantapur district, after the Assembly elections, the district unit of the Communist Party of India (CPI) and its frontal organisations are gearing up for a massive indefinite protest programme from October 11, demanding input subsidy and release of 5 tmc ft of water to the Penna Ahobilam Balancing Reservoir (PABR).

`Demand not new'

The CPI, APRS, APVKS and other affiliated organisations of the CPI have planned a protest sit-in to prevent the functioning of the Collectorate. "We are not demanding anything new, but are pressing for what the Congress had demanded as an Opposition and had promised till recently as party in power,'' the former CPI MLA, K. Ramakrishna, said here on Friday.

He reminded the Congress that it had demanded payment of input subsidy (crop loss compensation) to farmers who had suffered crop loss during the 2003 kharif.

While farmers who had not insured crop were promised a compensation of Rs. 500 per acre, subject to a maximum of Rs. 2,500 for two hectares or five acres, the farmers who had received meagre crop insurance benefit were promised the gap amount, again subject to a maximum benefit of Rs. 2,500, Mr. Ramakrishna said.

The two Ministers from the district -- J.C. Diwakar Reddy (Panchayat Raj) and N. Raghuveera Reddy (Agriculture) -- had been repeatedly promising disbursement of input subsidy "at the earliest'' since they assumed power. But, they had changed their tone in recent weeks, he said.

Disbursement of input subsidy could be taken up with monitoring by all-party panels, Mr. Ramakrishna suggested. Campaign

He said the CPI and its frontal organisations had already taken up publicity campaign about the protest in villages with the help of wall posters, pamphlets and a campaign vehicle.

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CPI plans stir for input subsidy

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