VIJAYAWADA: Minister for Civil Supplies Kodali Venkateswara Rao (Nani) on Sunday, July 18, 2021, slammed TDP chief N Chandrababu Naidu for making baseless allegations on clearing bills towards crop procurement and clarified that the Andhra Pradesh government will clear all the pending arrears by July-end. Speaking to the media, the minister stated that farmers were ignored during the rule of Chandrababu Naidu and an average of 55 lakh metric tonnes of paddy was purchased during his five-year rule.
“The present government is procuring an average of 83 lakh metric tonnes per annum,’’ he said. Drawing comparison with the previous government, he said that the Naidu government paid an average of only Rs 8,500 crore a year to farmers for crop procurement, but it is Rs 16,000 crore a year now.
Kodali Nani said the Centre owes Rs 5,056 crore to the state civil supplies department, for supplying the surplus crops to the Centre through the Civil Supplies Corporation. He said that the government was making every effort to get the pending bills cleared and the Centre assured to release Rs 1,600 crore on July 25. Similarly, another Rs 1,600 crore from NABARD is expected to get credited in a couple of days, said the Minister and asserted that the government will pay the farmers soon after getting the funds.