Fight for cyclone-hit A.P. farmers in Parliament, Jagan tells YSRCP MPs

:

YSR Congress Party (YSRCP) president and former Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy has instructed the party’s MPs to strongly raise Andhra Pradesh’s most pressing public issues in the Parliament sessions that begin on Monday.

“The fight in parliament should center around the serious hardship faced by farmers due to cyclone damage and the collapse of the Minimum Support Price on major crops, which has thrown the agricultural sector into crisis,” he said.

Mr. Jagan Mohan Reddy on Sunday expressed serious concern over the devastation caused by Cyclone Montha, which destroyed thousands of acres of crops in the coastal areas. ”Farmers who lost their entire harvest are under unbearable financial pressure as neither the State nor the Center has paid compensation. Adding to their woes is the complete failure to maintain the Minimum Support Price (MSP). “While the previous YSRCP government guaranteed MSP through RBKs and direct procurement, the current government abandoned farmers, leaving them to be exploited by traders and middlemen,” he said.

“MSP has declined sharply in major crops including paddy, maize, black gram, cotton, red gram, banana, mirchi and mango, pushing farmers into extreme hardship,” he said, adding that MPs should insist on emergency relief funds and assured MSP procurement should be resumed immediately.

The YSRCP chief said free crop insurance, which was provided automatically and without premium during the previous YSRCP government, has now been denied and farmers are left unprotected during natural calamities. Input support was also not provided. He said the government had stopped e-crop counting, leading to chaos in crop data and denying farmers eligibility for compensation and support. He added that pepper farmers were promised financial support but they were cheated and mango farmers were left helpless as the government failed to ensure that the companies paid their promised share.

Alleging that 18.63 lakh MGNREGA job cards have been abolished, leaving rural families deprived of livelihood security, he demanded immediate return of genuine job cards and release of pending wages.

The former CM instructed his MPs to oppose the ongoing “attempt to privatize Visakhapatnam Steel Plant in pieces”, warning that inviting private players to take over individual units was a dangerous path towards full privatisation. He said that the sacrifices of thousands of farmers who sacrificed land and even their lives for plants should not be betrayed. It demanded the immediate cancellation of partial privatization plans, the allocation of its holdings of iron ore mines, and the revival of the plant to protect the livelihoods of thousands of workers and contract workers.

Mr. Jagan Mohan Reddy urged the MPs to fight for pending central funds, job creation and overall protection of the rights and welfare of Andhra Pradesh and stated that the voice of the people should be heard strongly in Parliament.