Click to play videoHyderabad: Every other day, one farmer is committing suicide in Andhra Pradesh due to drought. Around 20 farmers have committed suicide in the last 40 days.
Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister YS Rajashekhar Reddy may be greeted by parched villages with empty and barren farms with no crop yields when he begins his tours of drought affected areas from September 2. However, the most daunting task ahead of the chief minister will be to meet the widows and orphaned kids of farmers who have committed suicide in the past few months.
Though the government has accepted that farmers in the state are committing suicide, but it also says that some of them might have ended their lives due to personal reasons. However, all the district collectors have been asked to submit a report within a week on the latest numbers and the reasons that led farmers to commit suicide.
According to official figures, at least 20 farmers in the state have committed suicide so far. YSR has now constituted a seven-member team of ministers led by state's finance minister K Rosaiah to review and monitor the situation.
A control room will also be set up soon. The chief minister is also expected to meet Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and seek an additional grant of Rs 2000 crore under the NREGS to provide wage employment to about 70 lakh people.
Reddy said, "The government has prepared a contingency plan. As an immediate measure, Rs 82.50 crore have been released for alternate seeds and fodder. During drought, government will be providing employment to nearly 70 lakh people. Presently, the budget under NREGS is Rs .4,800 crore. We have asked the centre for an additional assistance of Rs 2,000 crore."
Andhra Pradesh is demanding that the centre release almost Rs 104 crore as subsidy to provide alternative seeds to farmers in the drought-hit districts. The chief minister may officially announce that the state is drought hit once he returns from Delhi on August 19. However, all these measures may still not help him escape the flak of the opposition in the state.
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