Jagan says no farmer to shed tears in his regime, slams Naidu for crocodile tears
Vijayawada: Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy extended input subsidy to farmers affected by rain and assured that no farmer will have to cry for government support. He also promised to release insurance claims worth `12,027 crore on December 15.
Explaining the relief being extended to farmers affected by cyclonic storm Nivar in the Assembly here on Monday, the CM said that it was for the first time ever that relief and input subsidy was being provided to affected farmers in the same season unlike the earlier practice of doing so after a long time. He also announced procurement of discoloured and sprouted paddy from farmers by paying them appropriately.
The Chief Minister said that Cyclone Nivar not only damaged several crops but also infrastructure in the state and added that clear instructions were given to enumerate the extent of loss, especially to the crops, by December 15 so that relief for the affected farmers could be given by December 31. He promised seeds at 80 per cent subsidy to the affected farmers to help them raise crops again.
He took potshots at the previous Telugu Desam regime led by N. Chandrababu Naidu for delaying relief payments, input subsidy and settlement of insurance claims of affected farmers by one-and-half-years and said that their government cleared arrears worth of crores of rupees pending even from 2014 as they were committed to welfare of the farmers.
He said that beyond the poll promises, their government was committed extend financial help to the farmers to the tune of `13,500 per annum for five years unlike the earlier plan of giving only `12,500 for four yeas under Rytu Bharosa Scheme and added that in the last 18 months alone, they spent `13,000 crore under the scheme.
The CM stated that they had started drilling borewells and fixing electric motors for farmers with a target to complete 50,000 per annum at a total estimated cost of `4,000 crore. He faulted the TD regime for failing to clear power arrears of farmers worth `8,655 crore, paddy procurement arrears of `960 crore, seed subsidy arrears of `384 crore and farm loan arrears since 2014 worth of `1,030 crore and said that all such arrears were cleared by the YSR Congress government.
He promised to ensure supply of quality power for nine hours during day time for farmers as they had enhanced the capacity of power feeders at a cost of `1,700 crore. The CM said that their government had paid `510 crore as the farmers were given interest free crop loans by bankers to raise crops for kharif in 2019 of and added that `1,030 crore insurance premium was paid on behalf of the farmers for kharif crop of 2019 as each beneficiary farmer paid only `1.
Explaining about a series of efforts being taken by his government for the benefit of farmers from dairy and aqua sectors, the CM said that their government always wanted to provide benefit to the farmers unlike the practice of previous TD regime to exploit them.
The CM slammed TD supremo Chandrababu Naidu for shedding crocodile tears by not providing any kind of help to the farmers and described his act of squatting in the well of the house as unprecedented. In a witty manner, the CM described CBN as ‘Coronavirus Bhayapade Naidu’ and flayed him for enacting a drama only to draw the attention of a section of the media to highlight him as if he was fighting for the interest of farmers as a publicity stunt.
