Praja Sankalpa Yatra Tour Diary Day 9: Time The Farmers Stood Up

Allagadda, Kurnool District:

I set off on my yatra from R Krishnapuram by 8 AM on Wednesday. The next stop was Pedda Kota Kandukuru. Narrow streets, drain leaks turning roads into slushy puddles, unbearable stench emanating from the strange admixture of drain and putrefied garbage, utter poverty all around and people without a roof to live under…. This in short is the story of this village. My heart sank on seeing the state of affairs in his once-famed village. They say India lives in its villages. Sadly, the Government has neither the time nor passion for these villages.

Till Allagadda, my padayatra mainly covered farm lands. A large number of farmhands milled around to greet me. Most of them are roofless and landless.

They toil day in and day out to keep their home fires burning. God forbid if someone falls sick, their family faces total financial decimation and their fragile economy crumbles. Yet, the Government of the day hasn’t paid their Employment Guarantee Scheme arrears for the last one year. Can there be a more heinous crime than this?

Along the way, lime farmers interacted with me. They rued that despite their toil, they are not getting the right price for their produce.

Every farmer that I met during the Padayatra so far has the same sorry story to narrate. Why is it that no crop is getting the right price? Chandrababu Naidu, who boasted in his election manifesto that he would set up Rs-5000-crore price stabilization fund, has literally waged a war on the farmers.

His policies have ensured that the farmers do not get the right price. It is time the farmers rise up, shed despondence and wage a struggle against this soulless government.

I was overwhelmed by emotion as I stepped into Allagadda and deeply moved by the unwavering commitment of the party workers despite the trials and tribulations. Despite the vicissitudes, their love and affection for me have only doubled. Their determination to be on my side touched me to the core.

At Allagadda, I met Nireekshana, a girl, who is incapacitated due to debilitating burn injuries. She was finding it extremely difficult even to utter a few words. “I have been moving from pillar to post for pension. But, no one seems to care,” a teary-eyed Nireekshana said. I took her issue to the notice of the District Collector and hope he would respond.

Today, the prices of every farm produce – be it paddy, cotton, black gram, groundnut or even coriander, are touching a nadir the moment the crop is ready for harvest. I would like to ask the chief minister as to whatever happened to his Rs 5000 crore and his much touted price stabilization fund? Why you are unable to give support price for any farm produce? What will you achieve by inflicting unbearable and unending pain on the hapless farming community?