Andhra Pradesh - Others   

Scanty rain clouds I-Day fete

Staff Reporter

Minister worried over precarious kharif position in Anantapur

ANANTAPUR: Minister for Panchayat Raj and Endowments J.C. Diwakar Reddy expressed concern over the disheartening kharif crop position in the district due to scanty rainfall in the current monsoon. He, however, assured the farmers that the Government would help them take up alternative crops.

Speaking after hoisting the national flag as part of the 60th Independence Day celebrations here on Tuesday he noted that groundnut, which was normally cultivated in 7.79 lakh hectares in kharif, had been sown only in 3.75 lakh hectares. Even that too was sown in insufficient soil moisture.

He said that the State Government had supplied 4.08 lakh quintals of groundnut seed to farmers this season with Rs. 30 crores subsidy.

The Government would now supply seed for alternative crops required for about 4 lakh hectares with 33.3 per cent subsidy.

Bankers lauded

The Minister complimented bankers for disbursing Rs. 472 cr. crop loans this season to about 2.72 lakh farmers. The bankers had decided to issue crop loans up to Rs. 700 cr. this season, he stated.

The Government was taking measures to credit Rs. 82.63 cr. of input subsidy to the bank accounts of farmers, who had suffered crop loss last year and did not get crop insurance benefit.

Elaborating on other schemes taken up for the benefit of farmers the Minister said Rs. 1.6 cr. was spent under National Horticulture Mission in the district for raising orchards in 2,100 hectares.

Canal works

In two phases of land distribution programme about 6,650 landless poor were given 15,728 acres of land. Another 1,122 acres were given as house sites to 1.08 lakh poor families. Reiterating the Government commitment to complete irrigation projects the Minister stated that Rs. 110 cr. worth works were completed under the phase-one of Handri-Neeva project. Finalisation of tenders for the second-phase was also under process. He hoped that about 1.18 lakh acres could be irrigated under the project by 2007-end.

Late, he called on family members of P. Kulasekhar Reddy, who was found dead in his car under mysterious circumstances on Friday night. Kulasekhar Reddy was a prominent Congress member in Chukkaluru village in Tadipatri mandal. Government offices, educational institutions, political parties and commercial establishments too celebrated the day by hoisting the national flag.

Schoolchildren presented cultural programmes at the Police Parade Grounds.

A cola raid

The All India Youth Federation celebrated the day by raiding a soft drinks godown at Kovurunagar and destroyed some cola bottles. District president of AIYF N. Sreeramulu and deputy secretary of CPI C. Jaffer urged the people to shun soft drinks of sold by multinational companies, since they contained "high pesticide residue."

Additional security

KURNOOL: Minister for Lift Irrigatin M. Mareppa hosited the Tricolour here amid tight security. . Armed guards were posted to all important junctions and public were allowed into the Police Parade ground only after thorough examination.

Even those carrying cellular phones were asked to call a number to avoid any sabotage.

Collector M. Dana Kishore, District Judge Dasappa, SP B. Malla Reddy, and Joint Collector Ramsankar Naik were present.

The Minister said the overflowing rivers and projects helped supply water to five lakh acres in the district.

The dry spell in the initial months was overcome and crops were sown on 2.30 lakh hectares now.

Additional ayacut was created under Srisailam Right Branch Canal and Telugu Ganga canal this year.

Printer friendly page  
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Stories in this Section

Scanty rain clouds I-Day fete
Tricolour -- here, there, everywhere
Boost for lac farming in 4 States: Jairam Ramesh
Minister lists flood relief measures
Welfare schemes on track: Koneru
`Rain, a relief for drought mandals'
No decision yet on Rs. 2-a-kg rice scheme: Sharad Pawar
Irrigation projects planned in a big way: Dharmana
`Galeru Nagari in two years'
8 lakh more acres to be irrigated
Priority to ryots' welfare, says Naveen Patnaik
Good year for ryots: Minister
Six children get vision after surgery
Sonia to inaugurate RIMS in September

Copyright © 2006, The Hindu. Republication or redissemination of the contents of this screen are expressly prohibited without the written consent of The Hindu