The Chandrababu Naidu Government is committed to waiving 80 lakh farm loan accounts and, in the first phase, 40 lakh accounts have been taken up. Once the other account-holders submit an ID proof such as ration card, Aadhaar card, voter card in a month’s time, their loans too will be waived, Minister for HRD Ganta Srinivasa Rao has said.
Formally inaugurating the farmers’ empowerment convention for debt redemption and to give away relief for damages suffered in the cyclone Hudhud, Mr. Srinivasa Rao said that in spite of the resource crunch, the government went ahead with increasing the pension amount.
Telangana, with a surplus budget, limited the waiver to Rs.1 lakh. But, Mr. Chandrababu Naidu was firm on waiver of Rs.1.5 lakh. In all, 1,30,799 farmers benefited to the tune of Rs.164.11 crore in the district, the Minister said.
Normalcy was restored in six days after Hudhud struck, Mr. Srinivasa Rao said. To reach out to the affected people, essential commodities costing Rs.340 crore were distributed through the Civil Supplies Department, he said.
The Minister formally gave away cheques towards loan waiver and Hudhud compensation to the affected people.
Responding to a request by MLA Gana Babu, who presided, Mr. Srinivasa Rao said all support would be extended to celebrate the golden jubilee of Gopalapatnam ZP High School in a big way for three days from February 11.
Minister for Panchayati Raj Ch. Ayyanna Patrudu lambasted Leader of Opposition Y. S. Jaganmohan Reddy for staging a dharna instead of supporting the good work done by the Chief Minister against heavy odds, including a deficit budget of Rs.16,000 crore.
Asserting that all promises would be kept, he said that DWCRA loans would be waived next month which would benefit each member of the group by Rs.10,000.
District Collector N. Yuvaraj said the list of farmers eligible for waiver would be displayed at the panchayats up to December 16. Relief would be credited in the bank where the farmer had obtained loan. The total relief extended for cyclone damage covered four lakh people. Compensation to agriculture, horticulture, and damages to houses crossed Rs.300 crore, he said.
The amount was being credited for the first time in two months. MLAs — Vasupalli Ganesh Kumar and P. Vishnu Kumar Raju spoke.
