Vijayawada: Chief Minister Jaganmohan Reddy on Tuesday disbursed a compensation of Rs 22 crore into the accounts of 34,586 farmers who suffered crop loss due to the Gulab Cyclone in September this year.
Jagan said the YSRC government is providing compensation to farmers affected by natural disasters within the same season. Under this, Rs 1070 crore has been disbursed into accounts of 13.96 lakh farmers against a crop loss over 18 lakh acres in the last two and a half years. “The welfare of the farmer is a must for the welfare of the state, especially for revving up the rural economy. Over 62 per cent of the population in the state is relying on the agriculture sector,” he said.
The chief minister said the government initiated this novel programme as a support to the farmers by paying them compensation in the same season for the damaged crops. This is being done in a transparent way after a thorough social audit.
He said that in the last two and half years, Rs 18,777 crore was credited under YSR Rythu Bharosa, Rs 1674 crore under Sunna Vaddi Panta Runalu, Rs 3788 crore given through YSR Bima, Rs 18,000 crore under a nine-hour free power supply and Rs 1520 crore was spent towards power subsidy for aqua farmers.
Jagan slammed the previous Telugu Desam government for keeping a pending arrears of Rs 960 crore towards paddy procurement, Rs 9000 crore for power bills and Rs 384 crore for seed procurement. He said the YSRC government has cleared all these arrears.
A natural disaster fund of Rs 2,000 crore and a price stabilization fund of Rs 3,000 crore were set up to ensure that farmers do not get into trouble. It also initiated agricultural advisory committees at the RBK, mandal, district and state levels to assist the farmer community.
Deputy chief minister Dharmana Krishnadas, agriculture minister Kannababu, agri mission vice-chairman Nagireddy, government adviser (agriculture) Ambati Krishnareddy, agriculture special CS Poonam Malakondaiah, revenue PS Usharani and agriculture commissioner Arunkumar were present.
