The Finance department on Sunday ordered the Special Commissioner, Agriculture Department, to release ₹4,500 crore towards debt redemption scheme for farmers, against the due of around ₹8,000 crore.
Last month, Agriculture Minister Somireddy Chandramohan Reddy said on the floor of the Assembly the government would release ₹8,000 crore towards farm debt redemption scheme ‘very soon’.
When contacted, the Minister said a budget allocation had been made and that the remaining funds could be adjusted in the new fiscal starting from April.
Fears allayed
Allaying apprehensions, the Minister said there was no reason to worry as the scheme “is an ongoing programme and the election code will not have any impact on it”. Citing the Telangana government’s ‘Rythu Bandhu’ scheme, he said the farmers there had received the second instalment in their accounts on the eve of polling. “The Election Commission did not raise any objection to it.” The Minister, in the Assembly, had said the government was committed to fulfilling its promise of waiving farm loans amounting to ₹24,000 crore, of which ₹15,200 crore had already been waived.
