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Congress legislators from Anantapur district in Andhra Pradesh on Tuesday organised a novel protest to help the families of those farmers who committed suicide due to crop failure.
As many as 74 farmers in the district committed suicide during the current crop season as they were unable to repay their loans or feed their families.
Despite protests, the state government refused to pay ex-gratia to the next of kin of those who committed suicide on the ground that making such payments would induce more farmers to end their lives.
The Congress has already raised Rs two million for the families of the victims.
However, to draw attention to the issue, Congress MLAs led by J C Diwakar Reddy and N Raghuveera Reddy stood near the MLAs' entrance in the assembly complex and begged for alms from fellow legislators, officials and other visitors and raised Rs 26,000 in an hour's time.
Later, Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu unveiled a Rs 3.83-billion package for the farmers in the backward district even as he reiterated the government's decision not to pay ex-gratia to the families of farmers who committed suicide.
Naidu appealed to the Congress and the left parties to withdraw their call for a district bandh and rasta roko in Anantapur district on February 20 and 21. Farmers in the district have decided to stage a rasta roko for 40 hours on February 20 and 21 demanding compensation for loss to crops and ex-gratia to the kin of farmers who committed suicide.
Anantapur district suffered during this crop year due to prolonged dry spells and untimely heavy rains resulting in damage to crops and reduction in the yield, particularly of the groundnut crop. The quality of produce also suffered resulting in reduced margins for farmers.
However, damage to crops has been a recurring phenomenon in recent years forcing the chief minister to announce a series of short-term measures to provide immediate relief to the affected farmers.
The settlement of insurance claims would be expedited and repayment of loans have been rescheduled.
The chief minister also spelt out some long-term measures, including promotion of drought resistant species such as mango, tamarind and custard apple, increasing the forest cover and improving the irrigation network.
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