Though allocations were made in the budget, the government seems to have stopped the process of farm mechanisation. The allocation has remained on paper and the money is yet to be transferred to the district offices from the State Government.
Dealers clueless
While this has resulted in disappointment for farmers, the dealers who have extended the machinery were clueless about payment they are supposed to receive from the government.
Majority of the farmers in the district have cultivated cotton followed by paddy and other crops. However, they were not given the required machinery like sprayers on subsidy in time resulting in forcing them to buy the required machinery on their own.
At the initial stage, the agriculture officers orally informed the dealers to extend the material saying that the subsidy amount would be paid shortly. Till September, it had not arrived and the dealers had extended equipment to the tune of few crore to the farmers in the beginning of the season for two reasons. One was that, the farmers would come to them again if they extended machinery without bothering them for sanctions, and the second one was that they would get a good business.
Mounting arrears
Delay in getting subsidy was nothing new but this time they were clueless on when the amount would be released.
“There was about ₹7.5 crore bill pending pertaining to last year. This year I had extended machinery worth ₹1.5 crore for farmers with the hope that we can get our amount without much delay as government has been according top priority to the farm sector. But the reality is something different. We are at the receiving end,” said a dealer on condition of anonymity.
The officials in the agriculture department have admitted that the allocations for farm mechanisation were made but the sanctions were not accorded so far. “The higher officials have released an amount of ₹2.3 crore and instructed us to adjust the amount against the old pending bills,” said an agriculture officer on condition of anonymity.
“The officials are telling that the subsidy amount will come shortly but no one knows when it will come. The loser at ground level is farmer,” said Prudhviraj of Manjeera Rytu Sangham.
