Govt ignoring farmers' plight, says YSR

HYDERABAD: "An office boy in the government leads a better life than a farmer in AP," Y S Rajasekhara Reddy, leader of the opposition said.
Speaking at a seminar on ''Power supply to agriculture in India'' held at the Administrative Staff College of India (ASCI) on Saturday, Rajasekhara Reddy said inadequate power supply and water resources and apathy on the part of the government, had totally marginalised the farmers."Though, the government boasts of development in the state, out of every four farmers who commitsuicide in India, three are from Andhra Pradesh," he said.
Reiterating his party''s commitment to provide free power to farm sector in the state, Reddy said every state had its priorities. In Andhra Pradesh, which has more than 24 lakh agricultural pumpsets, the first priority of the government should be to ensure free and quality power supply to farmers, he said.
ASCI''s advisor on power sector, T L Shankar, highlighted the aspects of tariff and the extent of subsidy for the farm sector.
Lok Satta representative P Madan Mohan said though the government claims of providing nine-hour power supply to farm sector, farmers were not getting their quota of power.