VIJAYAWADA: Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy will deposit Rs 193.64 crore directly into the bank accounts of 80,686 beneficiaries across the State under the YSR Nethanna Nestham Scheme with the click of a button at a programme in Venkatagiri of Tirupati district on Friday.
Under the scheme, the government is extending a helping hand to handloom weavers by providing financial assistance regularly to make them self-reliant. It is providing financial assistance of Rs 24,000 per annum to the handloom weaver families owning looms. The government is extending financial aid to the beneficiaries of Nethanna Nestham for the fifth year. With Friday’s assistance, the government has paid Rs 1.20 lakh to each eligible weaver family under the scheme.
Since the formation of the YSRC government, Rs 969.77 crore has been disbursed under YSR Nethanna Nestham, Rs 1,396.45 crore as pensions and Rs 468.84 crore to APCO (including Rs 103 crore kept pending to APCO by the previous government). The total amount spent under the three schemes alone for the welfare of weavers is Rs 2,835.06 crore, officials said.
With the assistance, a majority of beneficiaries have upgraded their looms to produce quality fabrics with modern designs. Apart from this, the government has entered into agreements with e-commerce majors Amazon, Flipkart, Myntra, GoCoop, Loomfolks, Mirraw, and Paytm to provide international marketing facilities to handloom weavers for their products
While the previous TDP regime had spent Rs 442 crore in five years towards the welfare of weavers, the present government has spent a whopping Rs 3,706 crore for their welfare in four years, officials added.