Rosaiah explores option of SAZ in Ranga Reddy

Taking stock: Chief Minister K. Rosaiah with Union Urban Development Minister S. Jaipal Reddy at Yacharam village in Bantaram Mandal in Ranga Reddy district on Monday.
YACHARAM (RANGA REDDY DT.): Chief Minister K. Rosaiah, on Monday, said that he would explore the options of creating a Special Agriculture Zone (SAZ) in Ranga Reddy, a district that presently supplies a major share of vegetables and milk to the State capital.
He was addressing the people of Yacharam village in Bantaram mandal after launching the ‘Rythu Chaitanya Yatra', the government's farmer-contact programme, and giving them technical support.
Responding to pleas by local leaders, he said the Congress government was committed towards improving the lot of farmers and asked the Agriculture Minister N. Raghuveera Reddy to study the prospects of having an SAZ in the district.
Sloganeering
As soon as Mr. Rosaiah started speaking, a handful of youth in the audience began shouting pro-Telangana slogans. Initially he continued his speech but as others in the audience joined the sloganeering, Home Minister P. Sabitha Indra Reddy intervened to pacify the slogan-shouting youth.
After the brief interruption, Mr. Rosaiah asserted, “We are here to help farmers. There will always be trouble-makers who do not like a good programme.”
The Chief Minister asked Agriculture Commissioner Sunil Sharma to study farmers' problems in the district and to submit a report to him as to how the government could best serve their interests. “We depend heavily on agriculture and hence their welfare is important,” he said.
Dig at TDP
Mr. Rosaiah took a dig at Telugu Desam President N. Chandrababu Naidu for neglecting the farmers and harping only on computerisation. The Congress government, he said, was open to suggestions from any section of the society or political party if it was for developing the farm sector.
He also said that he would examine the demand for setting up an additional district court in Vikarabad.
Union Minister for Urban Development, S. Jaipal Reddy said that the Centre was helping farmers in under-developed parts of Chevella, Parigi, Tandur and Vikarabad through the Mahatma Gandhi Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme.
Mr. Raghuveera Reddy said that as part of the ‘Yatra', special teams of officials - one each for the 1,068 mandals - would touch every village and explain the technological developments in the farm sector.
‘Go to the fields'
He said it was important for officials to go to the fields because about 90 per cent of the farmers were small and marginal ones who did not have the means to contact the administration.