Andhra Pradesh - Guntur   

Drop plan to relocate chilli yard: Naidu

– Photo: T. Vijaya Kumar

All ears: Telugu Desam Party president N.Chandrababu Naidu interacts with a chilli farmer at the fire-ravaged Chilli Yard in Guntur on Monday. Party district president P. Pulla Rao is also seen.

GUNTUR: Telugu Desam Party president N. Chandrababu Naidu on Monday demanded that the State government pay complete compensation bag-wise to chilli farmers at the prevailing market rate, drop plans to relocate the market yard and provide jobs to daily workers under the National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme.

Addressing the farmers and hamalies at the fire-ravaged chilli yard here, Mr. Naidu criticised the governing body of the yard for failing to ensure “basic facilities” on the premises. He sought a comprehensive probe into the incident as divergent views on the cause of the accident had emerged.

The Opposition leader spent considerable time interacting with farmers, traders and daily workers, and repeatedly criticised Chief Minister Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy for making a “token visit” lasting a few minutes on Sunday. In contrast, Mr. Naidu tried to woo the distraught farmers by spending close to three hours on the yard premises. Several times, he passed on the cordless mike to the farmers and let them talk directly. “I have lost all the 104 tikkies (bags) in the fire. My plight is worse as I do not have any receipt for the stock kept at the commission agent,” said N. Brahma Reddy, a farmer from Konekallu. The TDP leader asked them to get receipts from the commission agents based on the ‘Anamat’ registers as that would be vital for identification of the loss and payment of compensation. He also interacted with women and repeatedly read out from hand-written paper slips.

During his address, Mr. Naidu alleged that it was a pre-planned incident and executed with a design to relocate the market yard. He said that the TDP would resist any move to shift the yard from its present location. Ponnur MLA D. Narendra Kumar, party district president P. Pulla Rao, party leaders Alapati Rajendra Prasad were present.

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