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Drought leading to exodus from Telangana: Cong

Thousands of desperate labourers and marginal farmers are migrating from the backward Telangana region to escape the rigours of a severe drought gripping Andhra Pradesh this year, a senior Congress leader has alleged.

Former minister M Shashidhar Reddy on Thursday told a media conference that the Chandrababu Naidu government has failed to rescue the drought affected people and the situation has turned worse in the rural areas, particularly in Telangana area.

"We have the dubious distinction of recording the highest number of suicide deaths by farmers in the whole country. Now, the people are forced to migrate in search of work. This is a sad reflection of the state government's inability to tackle the serious situation. It shows its utter apathy and gross neglect towards the plight of drought-affected people," he alleged.

Shashidhar Reddy said that former Karnataka labour minister and Janata Dal, United, leadr S K Kanta had led a protest rally in Gulbarga and gheraoed the district collectorate as part of a protest programme against the influx of labour from Andhra Pradesh.

The JD-U leader had claimed that 4,000 labourers from Andhra Pradesh were working in that town alone. These labourers worked for 14 hours a day for a meager wage of Rs 40 per day and were preferred over local labour that normally demanded Rs 60. Another 5,000 labourers from Andhra Pradesh were working in places around Gulbarga.

Most of the landless labourers and marginal farmers from Mahbubnagar district, which was one of the worst affected districts, were migrating in search of work.

While the state-owned Andhra Pradesh State Road Transport Corporation operated a daily direct bus service to Mumbai regularly, there were private buses operating from almost all the mandal towns on alternate days packed like sardines.

Shashidhar Reddy demanded the government take immediate steps to prevent the forcible migration of labourers from backward areas of the state by providing them gainful employment under the Food for Work programme, instead of carting away the free rice to line the pockets of ruling Telugu Desam functionaries.

He warned that the situation was quite grim and mere supply of drinking water and fodder was not enough. The crisis needed to be tackled on a war footing before the hapless farmers resort to suicide.