Minister for Agriculture P. Pulla Rao said the government will issue Loan Eligibility Cards (LECs) to all farmers, including tenants, and they will have time up to March 2015 to avail interest-free crop loans.
Responding to a question during the Question Hour in the Assembly on Friday, the Minister said 3,39,214 LECs were issued to the tenant farmers during 2014-15. When YSRC MLA Y.Visweswara Reddy said only Rs.58 crore was sanctioned for LEC holders till now, and that the LECs sanctioned are a fewer than last year, Mr.Rao said a committee has been constituted under the chairmanship of Chief Commissioner of Land Administration for issue of LECs.
Replying a query by MLA A.Suresh about the amount of grant due from the 13 Finance Commission Finance Minister Yanamala Ramakrishnudu said Rs.2,783 crore was due from the Centre, while the amount received stood at Rs.1,234.28 crore. However, the State government has granted Rs.2,273.5 crore in advance, so that works under various departments were not affected.
To a question on fee reimbursement for the AP students studying in Telangana, Minister for Social Welfare Ravela Kishore Babu said the department does not have details about the number of such students. However, he assured that the reimbursement would be fulfilled as per their ‘Local’ status.
He put the total number of students who have applied for the reimbursement at 14,549, including fresh applications.
However YSRC MLA P.Anil Kumar said Aadhaar cards were being sought as proof for obtaining the benefit. This was only to avoid reimbursement to OBC and EBC students, he alleged.