JD(S) state president H D Kumarasw-amy has said that if the party is voted to power in 2018 Assembly polls, due priority will be accorded to resolving agrarian crisis. Addressing the party workers at a convention here on Monday, Kumaraswamy said that if the JD(S) gets a clear mandate in 2018 polls, it will announce waiver of farm loans in 24 hours of assuming power.
“The farmers in the state are in distress due to lack of rain. Many farmers have committed suicide due to mounting debts and crop failure and many other are on the brink. The government has not even provided compensation to the kin of farmers who committed suicide. The JD(S), if voted to power, will take effective measures to bail Annadatas out of crisis by writing off loans, providing them the sowing seeds and fertilisers,” Kumaraswamy said.
“Clean and safe drinking water has remained elusive for Pavagad taluk. When I was chief minister I had announced a scheme to release drinking water to the parched taluk from Upper Bhadra project. But the BJP and Congress governments in the last 9 years have failed to implement the project,” he said.
The neighbouring taluks in Andhra are getting Krishna river water. The government lacks political will to implement a permanent water project to tide over crisis in the arid taluk, he alleged. The government claims that it had spent Rs 42,000 crore for irrigation project. But many taluks in the state are experiencing Pavagad-like water crisis. The government must answer what happened to crores spent for water projects, he said.
Kumaraswamy said, “Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana is formulated to benefit the companies not farmers. The insurance companies which make the farmers cough up crores in the form of premium, are not coming to their rescue. The BJP-led NDA government writes off crores of debts but it is not keen to do so on agrarian loans,” he alleged.
Legislators K M Timmarayappa, Mallikarjun Khuba, Ramesh Babu, Beml Kantharaj, ZP president Latha Ravikumar, JD(S) leaders R C Anjinappa, Satyanarayan, Belli Lokesh, Vadigere Ramesh, K R Suresh, Manjunath Chowdary, TMC president Suma, Vasanth, Gopal, Balram reddy, Timmareddy and others were present.
Published 15 May 2017, 18:03 IST