Kakinada, Feb 23 (TNT): Tenant farmers staged a dharna in front of the Collectorate here on Monday as part of a statewide agitation, demanding enactment of a new tenancy legislation and implementation of assurances made by the government during the elections.
Senior leader Battula Rameswerarao formally launched the protest programme.
Addressing the gathering, Tenant Farmers’ Union President M. Rajasekhar and Secretary Vallu Rajababu alleged that coalition party leaders had made several promises to tenant farmers during the election campaign but conveniently forgot them after coming to power.
They said the key assurance was to scrap the existing CCRC Act and replace it with the LEC Act. However, no steps had been taken in this regard.
They further alleged that the government failed to credit amounts under the Annadatha Sukhibhava scheme to tenant farmers’ accounts for the years 2024 and 2025.
Though crop loss due to heavy rains was recorded, compensation had not been paid, they added.
The leaders demanded reduction in the hiked prices of fertilizers and pesticides, announcement of remunerative prices for agricultural produce, and payment of Rs. 500 bonus per quintal of paddy.
They accused the government of turning a deaf ear to repeated representations, forcing them to launch the agitation.
Rythu Sangham district secretary Appareddy alleged that the Centre had been crediting only Rs. 6,000 annually to farmers’ accounts for the past ten years, while crop investment costs had increased multifold.
AIDWA joint secretary Ch. Ramani, Pensioners Association district leader U. Satyanarayana Reddy, state secretary K. Sathiraju, SFI leader Sanjay Kumar, and Agricultural Workers’ Union leader Tekumudi Eswararao expressed solidarity with the tenant farmers’ stir.
TNT TMR
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