Big relief for Telangana farmers; KCR okays Rs.5K per acre from June 15
HYDERABAD: Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao on Saturday announced that the state government would deposit Rythu Bandhu amount of Rs 5,000 per acre into the bank accounts of farmers from June 15 to 25 for the upcoming kharif season.
Rao said despite the Corona-induced financial crisis taking a heavy toll on the state government's revenue earnings, the Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) government was committed to the welfare of farmers and would continue Rythu Bandhu as usual. He said nearly Rs 7,300 crore would be deposited in the bank accounts of about 61 lakh farmers for the kharif season. He directed the officials to cover all eligible farmers who owned land before the cut-off date of June 10.
The Chief Minister held a review meeting on agriculture with agriculture minister S Niranjan Reddy and senior officials at Pragathi Bhavan. He said the agriculture sector had achieved rapid growth in the last seven years of the TRS regime.
"From a parched state in 2014 when Telangana state was formed, today 75 per cent of the tanks and reservoirs are brimming with water even in summer due to new irrigation projects and Mission Kakatiya taken up by the state government. Telangana stands only next to Punjab in the country in agriculture production. The day is not far when we will beat even Punjab and become No. 1 state in the country," the Chief Minister remarked.
He directed the officials to keep required seeds, fertilisers and pesticides ready for kharif season as there are indications of bountiful rains this monsoon.
He ordered the police, intelligence and agriculture officials to crack whip against those indulging in sale of spurious seeds, fertilisers and pesticides and book them under PD Act (Preventive Detention).
The Chief Minister also directed officials to strictly implement QR codes for seeds and seed traceability system for kharif. Upon scanning the QR code through mobile phones, the farmers can assess and learn about the quality and genuineness of seeds. Once the QR code is scanned, immediately, all details about seeds, including the place of manufacture, time and manufacturer details, processing and packing locations, seed quality tests results, tests date and expiry details are flashed on the screen.
The Chief Minister directed chief secretary Somesh Kumar to issue an ordinance if need be to check spurious seeds and fertilisers. He warned agriculture officials against colluding with traders of spurious seeds. If caught, such officials will not just be dismissed from the service immediately but also will be imprisoned for 10 years, he said.
