The State government has initiated measures to position over ₹6,000 crore cash reserves required for paying the second instalment to farmers under Rythu Bandhu scheme in November.
The government has started exploring various options available for mobilising the required amount so that the implementation of the scheme would not impact the budgetary allocations made to different departments. The government raised ₹1,250 crore from the Reserve Bank of India as State Development Loan on Tuesday. The loan comes with 8.42% interest spread over a period of 25 years.
“But for the salary bill, there is scope for stopping payments relating to certain work if need be to ensure that there is no scope for shortage of funds for the scheme,” a senior official told The Hindu .
The government faced teething problems before the launch of the scheme in May with doubts over the availability of cash reserves in banks. Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao himself had to address letters to the bankers as well as the RBI officials explaining the importance of the investment support scheme for farmers to sustain their operations.
Meanwhile, the officials concerned are anticipating that the number of beneficiaries under the insurance scheme for farmers is unlikely to exceed 30 lakh of the total of 57.3 lakh farmers enlisted for issuance of new Pattadar passbooks. Senior officials said close to 13 lakh farmers were above the age of 59, the cut-off age for insurance scheme, while the absentee farmers, a majority of whom are staying in urban areas, too have not enrolled under the scheme so far.
“Given the huge amounts for which they have insurance coverage, these landowners are unlikely to register their names,” a senior official said. Besides, close to three lakh farmers who have multiple accounts and would get insurance for only one of their land-holding.
