Describing the agriculture budget as yet another disappointment, Leader of Opposition Y.S. Jaganmohan Reddy has regretted that there is no allocation for debt relief to the farming community.
Speaking to media persons here on Friday, Mr. Jaganmohan Reddy said the ruling Telugu Desam Party was unable to even cash in on its flagship programme - farm loan waiver scheme.
“Even in the general budget, it was buried somewhere. Against a demand for interest waiver to the tune of Rs. 1,000 crore, a paltry Rs. 172 crore was provided. This shows the pathetic state of affairs,” he said.
He said Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu had asked farmers not to repay their loans, saying he would see that they were waived. And because people believed him, the old loans had now accumulated to a whopping Rs. 40,000 crore that now attracted a 14 per cent penal interest, taking the additional interest burden alone to Rs. 5,600 crore.
“With the interest on last year’s loans, the total interest burden itself worked out to Rs. 6,600 crore, against which only Rs. 172 crore has been budgeted,” he said.
Input subsidy
Speaking of input subsidy, he said it worked out to Rs. 2,173 crore, Mr. Jagan referred to the devastation wrought in 2013 by three cyclones - Phailin, Leher and Helen and wondered how those affected would ever recover without Governmental support.