The YSRC honorary president Y.S. Vijayalakshmi on Monday promised to exert pressure on the UPA government for waiver of agricultural loans in the cyclone-affected areas. She visited farm fields ravaged by floods and the affected victims at Narayanapuram in Unguturu and Duvva in Tanuku mandal of of West Godavari district. She also visited Goteru and Kanteru drains which caused floods, submerging farm fields downstream in view of their poor condition.
She waded through the flood water to reach out to the victims and lend them a patient hearing at Narayanapuram. The affected farmers showed her bundles of damaged paddy plants with a request for help. She observed that Tanuku and Achanta mandals bore the brunt of the cyclonic ravages on a large scale.
Ms. Vijayalakshmi said it was highly impossible for the farmers to bail themselves out from the debt burden in the face of extensive damage the floods have caused to their farm fields. It was a fit case for waiver of farm loans as such a measure also would provide a soothing effect to the victims in real terms, she said. Ms. Vijayalakshmi appealed to the government to take up steps to procure discoloured paddy from the growers in the flood-hit areas by relaxing procurement norms, keeping in mind the scale of devastation. She said the Nandamuru (new) aqueduct across the Yarrakalva, constructed with Rs. 450 crore during the period of her husband late Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy as Chief Minister, remained useless.
Consequently, thousands of acres of farm fields downstream Bhimavaram and those located in the upper reaches up to Nallajarla became vulnerable to floods every time, she said.
From Hindu
