Praja Sankalpa Yatra Diary Day 10: Common Man’s Curses Will Return To Haunt Chandrababu

3 Jan, 2018 15:19 IST|Sakshi
YS Jagan interacts with commoners during his PrajaSankalpaYatra

November 16, Dornipadu, Kurnool District:

My Yatra today began from the outskirts of Allagadda at 8.30 AM. As I set out on my journey, 14-year-old Zarina came to meet me. Zarina, whose father Jamal Wali is an autorickshaw driver, has lesions on her nose and right cheek caused by damaged facial blood vessels. This affliction can be rid only at Hyderabad-based NIMS. Armed with an Arogya Sri card, her father took her to NIMS, where all the necessary tests were carried out and even the date of the surgical procedure fixed. But, by the time they went to NIMS again, they were told that the Arogya Sri for patients from Andhra Pradesh had been done away with. Chandrababu Naidu has removed the provisions for inter-state application of Arogya Sri. They were turned away saying their Arogya Sri card was valid only in Andhra Pradesh.

As of now, Andhra does not have the necessary facilities for the procedure and all the doctors they approached referred her to NIMS. Now, Zarina is having a difficult time while her father, who is desperate to give a new lease of life to his daughter, has even disposed off his auto-rickshaw – his only source of livelihood. Why did the Andhra Pradesh Government do away with this system where patients from Andhra Pradesh can get their ailments cured in neighbouring Telangana using the Arogya Sri scheme? What is this if not a cheap way of saving a few hundred rupees? Chandrababu’s mindless decision is putting the hapless patients’ health in peril and their families are staring at penury bearing the burden of the treatment. Chandrababu will soon realise that the suffering of the poor will not spare those in power.

Allagadda is home to a massive cotton seed development project spread on a sprawling 20,000 hectare area. At Dornipadu, cotton seed producing farmers met me. They complained about not getting a fair price for their produce. They fondly recollected the pro-farmer stance of my late father and the many incentives that he showered on them.

Agrochemical giant Monsanto would buy 750 gm cotton seeds from the farmers at Rs 200 and sell 450 gm of processed seeds at the rate of Rs 1650. My father waged a legal battle against the Monsanto and ensured that the buying price was hiked to Rs 500 and the selling price brought down to Rs 650. Till Chandrababu’s ascent to power, the Government used to hold annual meeting with seed companies and farmers’ associations to ensure that the farmers got a fair deal. The farmers' bodies used to rein in the seed companies and veto any anti-farmer proposals. These meetings have not been held in the past four years. As a result, the price of unprocessed seeds has come down from Rs 500 to Rs 420. The rate of processed seed has shot up from Rs 650 to Rs 850. In other words, the precious gains made for the farmers by my late father were frittered away by the Chandrababu Naidu regime.

Finally, I have a question for Chandrababu on Arogya Sri. If the Karnataka government can extend its Arogya Sri scheme to the hospitals in Hyderabad, what prevents you from doing the same? By limiting Arogya Sri to AP, are you not putting the lives of poor patients at stake? Are you more concerned about profits to your henchmen rather than the needy? Hope you would care to respond.

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