Money to be directly transferred into ryot’s account
Two days after government’s announcement on release of fourth and final instalment to clear loans of farmers up to ₹one lakh, Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao came up with another bonanza for them by declaring that they will get 24 lakh tonnes of fertilizers free of cost from next financial year.
Each of the 55 lakh farmers in the State will get ₹4,000 per acre for purchase of fertilizers. It will be direct transfer to their bank accounts by end of May, well before commencement of agricultural operations for the first crop. The farmers will, however, have to purchase pesticide and seed, Mr. Rao said addressing a large number of farmers from various districts who turned up at his camp office complex here on Thursday to thank him for closing the loan instalments.
Stating that the TRS government was writing a new chapter after making history by clearing loans amounting to ₹ 17,000 crore for farmers, Mr. Rao said the government will make budgetary provision for purchase of fertilizers every year from 2018-19.
Budgetary allocation
This will continue as long as TRS is in power. As soon as the budget got the approval of the Assembly, funds will be released only to the farm sector first.
Mr. Rao’s announcement was received with slogan shouting by participants, standing near their seats.
As one belonging to a farmer family, Mr. Rao said this was his contribution to the community. Unless the government went to the aid of farm sector in several ways as this, it will not be possible to usher in a golden era in the State. Development was not possible without creating wealth in villages. But, there were several obstacles to the good work taken up by government, he said.
Irrigation promised
Just as he led a struggle to secure Statehood for Telangana, Mr. Rao expressed a firm commitment to provide irrigation to one crore acres. Attempts were made to achieve the target in three to four years. Water would be taken to Sriramsagar project from Kaleswaram project at Medigadda. Plans were also made to fill Nizamsagar project from Medigadda so that it was not dependent on rains.
He desired that villages in Telangana were divided into crop colonies to be able to earn remunerative price for farmers. He also wanted farmers’ associations in all villages to create platforms to develop new techniques in agriculture.
Agriculture Minister Pocharam Srinivas Reddy said this was another historic day for Telangana.