Is it too late for Naidu and his rain-gun to battle Anantapur drought?

For the past few days officials in Anantapur district have been on their toes. They have spent sleepless nights.

 

They complain they have not been allowed to have even a lunch at leisure. Every official is seen either running to the R&B guest house where Chief Minister Naidu has set up a war-room to monitor the ‘war’ he launched in the district to save the leftover groundnut crop in the district or glued to the TVs listening to the marathon instructions the CM was issuing, on how to save the standing crop in the district, with the help of his new found weapon "rain-gun" in video conferences.

 

If the CM wants his message to reach wider audience, his office organizes teleconferences connecting thousands of (as many as 8500 at peak level) officials.

 

During the past 24 hours, when Naidu was in Anantapur, officials have been busy feeding the success stories of Naidu's 48-hour effort to save the crops in the district to the media.

Three days back, while touring the district, Naidu announced that he was declaring war on the Anantapur drought. He said he would stay put in Anantapur for three days and oversee the fight against the drought with his rain-guns.

 

He came back yesterday and stayed in Anantapur till today. Upon arriving in town yesterday, he addressed a teleconference with officials and later on participated in a programme called “Raythula tho mukha mukhi" (interaction with farmers) at Veerapuram village, Gummagatta.

 

The CM’s arrival in his helicopter, his staying in the town, and hundreds of officials whizzing back and forth with immense speed in their vehicles to facilitate the boss’s stay have created an "emergency-like situation” in the district.

 

Why this hyper activity in a district known for regular droughts?

 

Former MLA and CPI state secretary K Ramakrishna dubs this as an artificial war. A resident of Anantapur town and an expert in agricultural matters, Ramakrishna squarely blames CM Naidu as being responsible for the present agrarian crisis in the district.

 

“Used to mega celebrations and having been deeply immersed in the preparations for Pushkarlu and I-Day celebrations for over two months, Naidu ignored the looming drought in the district. While his state administration had been busy in organizing the Krishna Pushkaralu for past two months, he diverted district officials’ attentions to the state Independence Day celebrations at Anantapur.

 

“As Naidu chose the district for state I-Day celebrations, all officials got themselves bogged down by the I-Day arrangements to please Naidu and ensure Naidu's safety and comfort on August 15. These arrangements had happened when the district was in the grip of drought,” he said.

 

Talking to Asianet Newsable, Ramakrishna said Naidu declared war on drought too late, after the disaster struck and wreaked havoc.

 

“He should have declared this war 30 days ago. Now all the crops have withered. And there are widespread rains. These rains and Naidu's rain-guns, can save the crop not more than 5%.

 

“At best, it will solve the fodder problem," he said and added that this hullabaloo would only cover up his government's major failure in coming up to the rescue of the Anantapur farmer.

After Gujarat, it is Anantapur that tops in the production of groundnut in the country. Also, in the district, desertification is spreading like wildfire. The district, which lies just below the Jaisalmer in the annual rainfall, always sits on the verge of drought. 

 

Immediately after ₹2000-crore Pushkaralu celebrations, Naidu found something amiss in the district in a review meeting conducted on the status of agriculture. He might have thought that he should himself start the firefighting in the district, which gave him 12 assembly seats out of 14 in 2014 elections.

 

According to the CPI state secretary, Naidu's war on drought is an attempt to prevent people from discovering the truth about a serious mistake on the part of government or failure of the government in Anantapur.