The Hindu : Andhra Pradesh / Hyderabad News : Delay in farm input subsidy irks YSR

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Saturday, Jun 27, 2009
ePaper | Mobile/PDA Version

Andhra Pradesh

Andhra Pradesh - Hyderabad

Delay in farm input subsidy irks YSR

Government order issued last year for extending subsidy not implemented, points out Minister

YSR told proposal shot down by Finance Department
Directs officials to immediately issue a G.O. on the subsidy

HYDERABAD: Chief Minister Y. S. Rajasekhara Reddy lost his cool at the Collectors’ conference on learning that the farm input subsidy facility had not been extended to farmers owning up to five acres.

During a discussion on agriculture and seasonal conditions, Rural Development Minister Vatti Vasant Kumar brought to his notice that an order issued last year for extending the subsidy on farm input to ryots having five acres had not been implemented. Earlier, the subsidy was available only to those owning 2.5 acres.

Expressing surprise, Dr. Reddy reportedly questioned the Principal Secretary (Agriculture) Rachel Chatterjee about the delay. She replied that proposals to implement the order had been shot down by the Finance Department as unfeasible. “What prevented you from bringing the issue to my notice? I could have taken a decision on the issue immediately,” he reportedly remarked.

Bogus cards

Upset over the lapse, he directed the officials to immediately issue a government order that would come as a boon for the farmers.

The Chief Minister directed the officials to take utmost care during the joint verification exercise to identify bogus ration cards, ineligible pensioners and ‘benami’ beneficiaries of Indiramma housing programme so as to avoid scope for criticism.

There were 2.37 crore ration cardholders in the State, more than 65 lakh pensioners while 60 lakh houses have been sanctioned under Indiramma.

Cautions Collectors

Dr. Reddy made it clear to the Collectors not to victimise the rural people and allay fears that they would lose their ration cards.

Elaborating on the do’s and don’ts for the special teams that would launch a drive to weed out bogus cards, he asked the officials not to give scope for complaints of victimisation from people or also to avoid fixing targets for weeding out bogus beneficiaries.

Briefing reporters, Revenue Minister Dharmana Prasada Rao said the joint verification would be completed by November 15.

He pointed out that a pilot study in Vizianagaram district identified 22,000 bogus ration cardholders against a total of five lakh beneficiaries.

Printer friendly page
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Andhra Pradesh