The Andhra Pradesh Capital Region Development Authority (APCRDA) has kick-started the process to pay crop compensation to farmers in the capital region. Around 22,000 farmers will receive compensation and annuity of Rs. 209 crore by the month-end.
Of this, Rs. 140 crore to Rs. 150 crore would be earmarked for one-time compensation which would be paid to the farmers who were holding orchards and were dependent on horticulture. The government will pay Rs. 1 lakh per acre for horticulture land.
The farmers have to sign the development agreement with the CRDA to avail the compensation. Compensation would be paid to the farmers through the Guntur Collector in the form of demand draft (DDs), according to CRDA Commissioner N. Srikanth.
The jareebu (irrigated land) farmers, likewise, will receive Rs. 50,000 per acre as annuity, while the same for the dry land farmers will be Rs. 30,000 per acre. The government has fixed these annuities under the Land Pooling Scheme (LPS) being implemented for the Capital region. The annuity will be paid for 10 years, starting now.
The government recently has amended the Clause 2 of Rule 5 of the AP Capital City Land Pooling Scheme (Formulation and Implementation) Rules, 2015. It also has announced that the annual payments for the farmers who have parted with their land will start from March 1. The last date for harvesting of crops is April 30.
A similar exercise to pay the annuity to landless or tenant farmers will be taken up shortly. Annuity will have to be paid at the end of year. But, the idea of paying in advance is to ensure that the farmers would not plan for second crop.
