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Union Agriculture Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan, on Friday continued his two day inspection tour of flood-affected areas of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana. The Agriculture minister reached Vijayawada and inspected agricultural fields and interacted with affected farmers.
Speaking to reporters after the inspection, Shivraj Singh Chouhan said, "Today, I saw the agricultural fields of my farmer brothers and assessed the damage. Farmers' crops have been fully damaged. There is a 100% loss to Banana, Haldi, Paddy and vegetable crops. Many of the farmers don't own their own farm land and do farming by borrowing land on lease but they have lost their crops." "So I had come here to convey that on the directions of the PM, the CM here is working with sensitivity. The Centre will cooperate with CM N Chandrababu Naidu. SDRF fund of over Rs 3,448 crore in the state will be used to provide immediate relief to the affected," he added. Further, Chouhan accused the previous YS Jagan Mohan Reddy government of being responsible for not implementing Pradhan Mantri Fasal Beema Yojana that deprived farmers from getting compensation for the corps. "The previous state government did not implement Pradhan Mantri Fasal Beema Yojana in the state. We will make arrangements and pay the premium Fasal Beema Yojana so that farmers can benefit from the scheme. It's the consequences of the previous government that Budameru bridge collapsed due to illegal mining in the nearby areas. So we have to come with long-term planning to tackle such floods and will make every possible effort to bring out farmers from this distress," said Shivraj Singh Chouhan. Earlier, speaking on flood situation in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana, Sanjeev Kumar Jindal, Additional Secretary, MHA said, "...NDRF teams, so far, have rescued 350 persons and have evacuated about 15,000 persons in Andhra Pradesh and in Telangana they have rescued 68 persons and evacuated about 3200 persons. They have also provided pre-hospital treatment to a number of affected persons and are assisting the local administration in distributing the food and relief material to the marooned families." "IAF and Navy helicopters have carried out 65 sorties and around 71,000 kgs of food and relief material have been dropped to the affected population in Andhra Pradesh...The MHA has constituted the Inter-Ministerial Central Teams which will visit the affected areas in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana shortly for making an on the spot assessment of damages caused by floods and will make the recommendations to MHA for additional financial assistance from National Disaster Response Fund..." Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu, who reviewed the situation at the Andhra Pradesh Disaster Management Authority, also added that protecting lives and property is a top priority. (ANI)
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