• Shabbir slams CM KCR for warning farmers against growing paddy
• Congress organises massive ‘Dalit Girijana Atma Gaurav Dandora’ at Machareddy

Kamareddy, September 13: Former Minister & ex-Leader of Opposition in Telangana Legislative Council Mohammed Ali Shabbir on Monday demanded that the Centre and State Governments give farmers complete freedom to decide the crops they want to grow.

Addressing a massive ‘Dalit Girijana Atma Gaurav Dandora’ meeting at Machareddy of Kamareddy district today, Shabbir Ali strongly condemned Chief Minister K. Chandrashekhar Rao for warning farmers against growing paddy crops. He said that the warning was not based on scientific data or market research. He reminded that the Chief Minister while delivering his Independence Day speech took pride for the highest yield of paddy in Telangana. In less than a month, he changed his stand and now he is warning farmers against growing Paddy while blaming the Centre for non-procurement of paddy. “Farmers must be given the freedom to decide any crop which could bring them good profits. They should not be forced to practice regulatory farming under any circumstances,” he said.

Shabbir Ali also ridiculed CM KCR’s claims that his government was providing necessary assistance to the farmers. He said 24 hours free power supply to farmers became a reality due to the initiatives taken by the previous Congress Government. Further, the TRS Government was yet to fulfill the promise of waiving off crop loans up to Rs. 1 lakh. Banks are not providing fresh loans to lakhs of farmers. Farmers are not getting proper supplies of seeds and fertilizers. None of the farmers, who lost their crops due to natural calamities, got any compensation in the last seven years. Further, the majority of farmers in Telangana are not having any insurance for their crops due to the negligent attitude of both BJP and TRS governments. Despite these negative conditions, when farmers are doing cultivation, the TRS Government is adopting a dictatorial attitude by deciding what crops they should grow,” he said adding that the Congress party would not tolerate such dictates of CM KCR.

Speaking about Kamareddy, Shabbir Ali strongly condemned the TRS Govt for not releasing Rs. 200 Crore for the completion of Package-22 of the Pranahita Chevella Project would irrigate 3.5 lakh acres of land in Kamareddy, Yellareddy and parts of Ramayampet. He reminded that the the foundation for Pranahita Chevella Project was laid in 2008 by the then Chief Minister Dr. Y.S. Rajashekhara Reddy and as the Cabinet Minister and local MLA, he got approvals for Rs. 1400 Crore to bring Godavari River water to the Kamareddy. However, he alleged that CM KCR stopped the release of funds since 2014 to complete Package-22.

The Congress leader announced that he would undertake padayatra around the 70-km stretch of Package-22 of the Pranahita Chevella Project and the dates would be announced soon. He said Telangana Pradesh Congress Committee (TPCC) President A. Revanth Reddy and other senior national leaders of the Congress party would participate in the padayatra.

Shabbir Ali said that the development in the Kamareddy constituency came to a halt ever since TRS came to power in 2014. He claimed that when he represented the constituency as MLA, he brought irrigation and drinking water projects, power sub-stations, hospitals and other infrastructure projects. However, he said that the development projects were either dropped or delayed under TRS Govt. While the previous Congress Governments had constructed over 12,000 houses for poor people in the Kamareddy constituency, the TRS Government did not deliver a single 2BHK unit in the last seven-and-a-half years.

TPCC Working President and former captain of Indian cricket team Mohammed Azharuddin congratulated Shabbir Ali for the successful conduct of the meeting and said that the response to the recent meetings conducted in various parts of Telangana clearly shows that the Congress party was all set to return to power in the next elections. He appealed to the people to re-connect with the Congress party as present TRS Govt has neglected their welfare. He asked all Congress workers to fight unitedly against the anti-people policies of TRS Govt in Telangana and BJP Govt at the Centre.

Hundreds of workers belonging to TRS and BJP also joined the Congress party on the occasion. The office of Machareddy Mandal Congress was also inaugurated today.