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Banks merger hits farmers in Telangana

Officials said that if farmers fail to provide revised bank details before June 10, they will lose Rythu Bandhu benefit

HYDERABAD: The merger of some public sector banks (PSU) banks in April 2020 has created troubles for farmers availing Rythu Bandhu benefits across Telangana. The state government has decided to deposit Rythu Bandhu amount for kharif season from June 15 to 25.

The state government has been crediting Rythu Bandhu amount of Rs 5,000 per acre directly into the bank accounts of farmers since December 2018. For this, farmers have to provide IFSC codes of their bank branches to the agriculture department.

However, farmers having accounts in Andhra Bank, Corporation Bank, Syndicate Bank, Oriental Bank of Commerce, Dena Bank and Vijaya Bank, which were merged into other banks, failed to provide new IFSC codes to the agriculture department. Following the merger, the IFSC codes of all these bank branches changed in April 2020.

Despite this, farmers did not face any trouble for the past one year and received Rythu Badhu even after the merger because the banks had allowed old IFSC codes until March 31 this year.

Officials of the agriculture department stated that if farmers fail to provide revised bank details before June 10, they will lose Rythu Bandhu benefit as online money transfer will not be possible with old IFSC codes.

They say farmers, who are mostly from rural and interior areas, were not aware of banking and IFSC codes due to illiteracy and Rythu Bandhu Samithis constituted by state government from village level to state level should take the initiative to educate farmers and ensure they submit revised bank details to agriculture department before June 10.

It was found that most of the farmers have accounts in Andhra Bank, Syndicate Bank and Vijaya Bank, who now stare at losing Rythu Bandhu benefits.

Officials asked farmers to submit a copy of their Aadhaar card, new bank's passbook, agriculture land passbook immediately to agriculture officers or agriculture extension officers of respective mandals failing which they will lose out on Rythu Bandhu benefits.

( Source : Deccan Chronicle. )
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