In a move which could provide some succour to farmers reeling under successive droughts, the Central Government will bring in new crop insurance scheme from April this year. Farmers who enrol in the new insurance scheme would have to pay Rs.450 per acre and the maximum sum assured is Rs.15,000 per acre.
Announcing the scheme at a public meeting held here on Thursday, Mr. Naidu said that the scheme is designed to bail out farmers.
The year 2015 has been particularly worse for farmers in delta and Palnadu regions, as deficit rainfall has resulted in low yields.
Chilli and cotton farmers have borne the brunt of erratic rainfall and have plunged into losses.
Flagship programme
Reaffirming that the Centre would continue to extend support to revenue deficit AP, Mr. Naidu said that Andhra Pradesh has been allotted 1.93 lakh houses under Housing for All scheme, a flagship programme of Central Government to provide housing for all by the year 2024.
Of the sanctioned houses, Guntur district has got 24,576 houses, which includes 11,808 units sanctioned for Guntur alone.
He also said that the State would get a new Railway Zone and added that the airport at Gannavaram would be upgraded into an international air port on the lines of Visakhapatnam and Tirupathi.
Police station inaugurated
Earlier, the Union Minister, along Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu unveiled a pylon for the development works to be taken at an estimated cost of Rs. 450 crore in Chilakaluripet Municipality.
He also inaugurated the newly built Chilakaluripet Urban Police Station.
Speaker Kodela Siva Prasada Rao, Minister for Agriculture Prathipati Pulla Rao, MP, Narsaraopet, Rayapati Sambasiva Rao, Inspector General of Police N. Sanjay, SP, Guntur Rural, K. Narayan Naik were also present.
