NELLORE: Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy on Thursday released the second tranche of YSR Aasara by crediting nearly Rs 6,440 crore into the accounts of 78.76 lakh women belonging to 7.97 lakh Self Help Groups (SHG) across the state.
Under the scheme, the outstanding loans of women SHGs, which are to the tune of Rs 25,517 crore (until April 2019) will be directly credited into their accounts in four phases.
Addressing a public gathering at Ongole, the Chief Minister said that there will be Aasara celebrations in all districts except Kadapa from October 7 to 18 with each mandal taken as a single unit.
He said the scheme will be implemented in Kadapa district from November 6 to 15 after the Badvel Assembly by-elections. He stated that the government had spent a total of '12,759 crore towards YSR Aasara in the last 28 months.
Reddy said that SHG women were betrayed by N Chandrababu Naidu, who promised to waive-off all their loans back in 2014. Believing Naidu, women ran into debts for not paying their loans, which amounted to Rs 25,517 crore from Rs 14,204 crore with all the interests levied.
Almost 18.36 per cent of the groups were notified as Non-Performing Assets (NPA) and even those with A- grade were downgraded to C and D due to non-payment of loans.
Adding a burden to these woes, the zero-interest loan scheme was stopped in October 2016. However, as promised during the 2019 elections, the current government has credited Rs 12,759 crore in two phases and restarted zero-interest loan schemes benefitting nearly one crore women.
With the measures taken by the government, only 0.73 per cent SHGs were notified as NPA and those with C and D grades have also bounced back to A-grade, registering a recovery rate of 99.5 per cent.
He said that with the government’s initiative, over three lakh women have started various businesses and are earning an additional income of Rs 7,000 to Rs 10,000 every month.
He stated that 50 per cent of nominated posts and nominated works were reserved for women, whereas in reality over 60.47 per cent of posts were given to women in various corporations. Seven of 13 ZP chairperson’s posts and 15 of 26 vice-chairmen posts were given to women. In order to ensure the safety of women, they brought in the Disha Act.
Listing out the various welfare schemes, he said that around one crore women from across 9.41 lakh SHGs were benefitted through zero-interest loans, after the government credited '2,362 crore.
Through Amma Vodi, 44.50 lakh women and 85 lakh children benefited after receiving a total of Rs 13,023 crore. Almost 61 lakh persons are receiving pensions while it was only 39 lakh during the TDP regime.
The government spent '8,944 crore benefiting 24.56 lakh women through YSR Cheyutha, Rs 5,573 crore for Vidya Deevena, Rs 2270 crore for Vasati Deevena, '881 crore for Sampoorna Poshana, Rs 982 crore for YSR Kapu Nestam, and distributed 31 lakh house-sites, where each house is valued between Rs 5 lakh and 10 lakh.
Later the Chief Minister sanctioned Rs 400 crore for the drinking water project in Ongole and announced that water will be drawn from the first tunnel of Veligonda project by next August and the second tunnel would be ready by February 2023.
Ministers Peddireddy Ramachandrareddy, Adimulapu Suresh, Balineni Srinivas Reddy, and other officials were present on the occasion.
