ONGOLE: Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy credited Rs 1,261 crore into the bank accounts of 1.02 crore Self-Help Group women under the YSR Sunna Vaddi Scheme as loan interest reimbursement here on Friday. Addressing a large gathering on the occasion, the Chief Minister who started his speech eulogising the role of women in the economic development of the State, said it was a great turnaround for women of Self Help Groups (SHGs) from being loan defaulters with the false promises made by the previous TDP regime in 2014, into successful entrepreneurs.
The welfare schemes like YSR Cheyutha, YSR Asara, Amma Vodi and others and the development initiatives like collaborating with corporates Reliance and Procter and Gamble and cooperative giant Amul and provision of bank loans for setting up grocery shops, poultry and dairy farms and other business units have helped them achieve economic and social empowerment, he asserted.
Jagan launched a broadside against the Opposition TDP and its allies, and a section of the media for their false propaganda that the implementation of welfare schemes through Direct Benefit Transfer was turning the State into another Sri Lanka, which is facing the worst economic crisis.
“In their view, fulfilling promises and directly transferring benefits to the poor and needy will make the State bankrupt, and forgetting promises and relegating assurances to dustbin will make the State prosper like the US. Is there any rationale in their criticism? You should all ask them are they humans?” he prompted.
Unlike the previous TDP regime which defaulted payment of interest for three consecutive years from 2016, the YSRC government has been reimbursing the loan interest of SHG members promptly. The people should think if they have come across such a government, which directly transfers welfare benefits into the bank accounts of beneficiaries to ensure that they have money in hand in hard times, he exhorted.
Jagan alleged that the development achieved by the YSRC government had caused heartburn to the ‘Gang of Four’, comprising Telugu Desam chief N Chandrababu Naidu and his friendly media, who are spewing venom against the government in the form of false propaganda on the State finances. “It clearly shows that they want the welfare schemes to be stopped. If the TDP comes to power it will stop them. Do you want it to happen,” he asked the gathering, drawing a big ‘No’.
Stating that he was fighting with demons in the form of Naidu, Jana Sena chief Pawan Kalyan and a section of the media, the Chief Minister said he is committed to implementing all the welfare schemes promised despite the financial crunch due to the Covid-19 pandemic.Ministers B Mutyala Naidu, Audimulapu Suresh and Meruga Nagarjuna, people’s representatives and senior officials were present.