The Hindu : Andhra Pradesh News : Ryots need assured power, not free power: Yashwant Sinha

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Sunday, Jun 12, 2005

Andhra Pradesh

Andhra Pradesh

Ryots need assured power, not free power: Yashwant Sinha

S. Ramu

Carried away by the free power promise, farmers invested heavily on bore wells, some of which failed.

CONSOLING WORDS: The former Union Finance Minister, Yashwant Sinha, with the family of Md. Jani Mian, a farmer who recently committed suicide.

NALGONDA: Farmers do not hanker after subsidised or free power, but they want assured power supply to sustain their crops, observed the former Union Finance Minister, Yashwant Sinha.

Speaking to The Hindu on Saturday after calling on the family members of a ryot, Md. Jani Mian, who had committed suicide due to mounting debts on May 15, at Nancharpet in Bhongir division of the drought-hit Nalgonda district, the BJP leader said: "Farmers are asking for assured power supply instead of no power. Carried away by the promise of free power, ryots invested lots of money in sinking bore wells. While some bore wells miserably failed, irregular supply is creating havoc for farmers."

TV programme

Mr. Sinha was here to anchor a programme, Andaaz Apna Apna, for the Zee Television. He had already interacted with a cross section of people in Himachal Pradesh, Jarkhand, Uttar Pradesh and Punjab donning the new role. Relating the `pathetic condition' of Jani Mian's family, Mr. Sinha said Mian had to end his life by consuming pesticide due to the pressure exerted by moneylenders. "Of the four bore wells he sunk, three failed and the remaining one yielded insufficient water. I am surprised to know that no representative of the district administration has called on the family till date," he maintained.

Moneylenders' pressure

Asked for his prescription for the present crisis in Agriculture, Mr. Sinha said efforts should be made to take away the debt burden from the ryots' shoulders. "They must be saved from moneylenders and placed under the normal lending system," he maintained. Asked whether he planned to submit a report to the Congress Government with his observations during the visits, Mr. Sinha said, "A team led by Venkaiah Naidu is on the job."

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