Agriculture Minister S. Niranjan Reddy has asserted that the government is committed to fulfil its promise of loan waiver made in the run up to the Assembly elections.
The Minister took strong objections to claims from a section of political parties about the delays in the implementation of loan waiver.
“The government is working out the modalities for loan waiver and it will fulfil its assurance given to farmers,” he said.
The Minister recalled measures like Rythu Bandhu and Rythu Bima which were launched in the interests of the farmers and said Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao is firm on fulfilling the aspirations of farmers.
Mr. Niranjan Reddy was speaking after formally launching the handbook on agriculture here on Thursday. The handbook brought out by the Telangana Farmers Association contains information pertaining to the changes taking place in the sector and the precautions that should be adopted in view of this.
He said the government is specially focused on agriculture sector and it would take some time for farmers to get all the assured benefits. Accordingly, facilities would be provided for the officers and staff of the department taking care of the needs of farmers at the grass root level. The government is contemplating to gather data pertaining to the requirements of the department in this direction and it is committed to take necessary measures after securing the approval of the Chief Minister, he said.
The government will constitute a committee comprising of senior officials of the General Administration and other departments to work out the modalities for giving promotions to employees. It is equally determined to take stringent measures to check the supply of spurious seed to farmers, he said.
The Minister, however, expressed concern that the Central government failed to make sufficient allocations to the State in spite of copying schemes like Rythu Bandhu pioneered by Telangana.
The indifferent attitude could be seen from the fact that allocations were not made to the State despite the Niti Ayog recommending sanction of ₹ 24,000 crore for Telangana for the measures it launched in the interests of farmers.
