VIJAYAWADA: Making it clear that the dues to farmers on procurement of paddy stood at Rs 1,619 crore, Ex-officio Secretary and Commissioner of Civil Supplies department Kona Sasidhar said the delay in the release of advance claims by the Centre led to the situation.
Appealing to the farmers not to worry, he assured that dues will be cleared at the earliest as the Centre will release Rs 1,200 crore on June 21 and Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy directed the Finance department to release Rs 200 crore a day for payment to farmers.
He said that the State should get Rs 3,299 crore as advance from the Centre every year for procurement of paddy. But no money was released till date and the Chief Minister, during his recent visit to Delhi, raised the issue with Union Minister Piyush Goyal.
Speaking to mediapersons at the Secretariat at Velagapudi on Friday, Sasidhar said that despite the delay in release of funds from the Centre, the State government already paid Rs 1,637 crore to the farmers on procurement of paddy in the Rabi season.
Asserting that the pre-audit system is being implemented to avoid the middlemen system, the official said that the government put the clause of making payments within 21 days after procuring paddy to verify the details of farmers and to put the middlemen at bay.
Recalling that there was delay in payment on procurement of paddy on earlier occasions also, he said that Rs 996 crore dues to farmers by the previous government were cleared by the present government.