Congress reviving farm sector in state: CM

SRIKAKULAM: With Governor ESL Narasimhan giving his approval to the new Tenancy Act on Wednesday, about 26 lakh tenant farmers would be brought under complete credit access from banks, said chief minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy at the Rythu Sadassu here on Wednesday.  This would go to a large extent to help the tenant farmers who deprived of crop and farm loans on the ground that they do not possess ownership of land.Inaugurating the exhibition of agricultural instruments, Reddy said, "The UPA government at the Centre has borne a subsidy of Rs 8,320 crore for power supply in the past couple of years. Besides, the state government has allocated Rs 30,000 crore to bring 30 lakh acres in the State under cultivation by 2014".The Chief Minister said while agriculture production has gone up by 31 per cent in the past one year, the Minimum Support Price MSP has been  doubled compared to the time of TDP ruling, but the Opposition continues to blame the Congress party which is reviving agriculture sector in the State.On increasing Minimum Support Price of paddy by Rs 200, Reddy said a proposal sent to the Centre in this regard is yet to be approved. Around 10 lakh acres of land of Scheduled Caste community would be irrigated with new state government scheme of Indira Jala Prabha, under which Rs 1,600 crore would be spent towards sinking one lakh borewells.Ahead of the local body election, Kiran Kumar, who distributed Rs 88 crore of Kharif compensation to the farmers and cheques worth Rs 161 crore of bank linkage loans to SHGs, said 50 per cent of local body seats would be reserved for women from this year.The inaugural session of Rythu Sadassu was marred by protests from farmers, members of some SHG groups and activists of YS Congress party when Roads and Buildings Minister Dharmana Prasada Rao was delivering the speech. Besides, in spite of best efforts of the local Congress leaders, the turnout of farmers was not very large.The Chief Minister was accompanied by Government Whip Kondru Murali Mohan Rao and MLAs of the district. For Rythu Sadassu, 16 agricultural scientists were deputed to explain to the farmers about better farming methods.Later, Kiran Kumar inaugurated KIMS Sai Seshadri, a corporate hospital besides laying the foundation stone of Rs 35-crore project of bridges across river Nagavali.