Hyderabad, Jan 21 : Telangana Pradesh Congress Committee (TPCC) President A Revanth Reddy Today demanded immediate payment of compensation to the farmers who lost their crops due to unseasonal rains and insect attack.
In an open letter to Chief Minister K Chandrashekhar Rao, he demanded that the chilli farmers who lost their crops be paid a compensation of Rs. 50,000 per acre while other farmers should be given a compensation of Rs. 25,000 per acre.
Stating that several farmers have committed suicide after losing their crops, he demanded that their families be paid an ex-gratia of Rs 10 lakh each.

The TPCC Chief said that crops spread across 25 lakh acres of land worth nearly Rs 8,633 crore were destroyed due to the recent unseasonal rains and insect attack.

Reddy said that this year the chilly farmers invested about Rs. 1.5 lakh per acre and expected a yield of nearly 25 quintals per acre. However, their crops were destroyed by Thrips Parvispinus, an insect from Indonesia which was first seen in 2015, and the yield was less than three quintals causing huge losses to the farmers.
He informed that crops spread over 50,000 acres of land were damaged due to unseasonal rains in North Telangana.
The TPCC chief alleged that lack of any assistance by the Centre or state governments has left the farmers helpless and driving them to the extreme steps like suicide.(UNI)