HYDERABAD: Farmers will start getting their Rythu Bandhu amounts for the Kharif season from June 28. Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao on Wednesday directed Chief Secretary Somesh Kumar to deposit Rythu Bandhu benefits for the ensuing ‘Vanakalam’ crop investment in the bank accounts of farmers from June 28.
The government will deposit Rythu Bandhu amounts in phases, as was done earlier, according to a release from the CMO.The State government requires around `7,500 crore to pay the around 63 lakh farmers in the state. It may be mentioned here that the State government borrowed `4,000 crore from the open market on June 7 and it is expected to get another `4,000 crore on June 28.
Thanking the Chief Minister for the decision to deposit Rythu Bandhu amounts, Rythu Bandhu Samithi State president and MLC Palla Rajeshwar Reddy said that this was being done despite several financial hurdles created by the Union government. Rajeshwar Reddy recalled that the State government purchased the entire Rabi paddy, after the Centre refused to procure it.
Agriculture Minister S Niranjan Reddy told reporters that like in the previous season, the Rythu Bandhu amounts would be released starting with farmers who own one acre land and then covering farmers owning two acres. He said that the benefit would be extended to all the 63 lakh farmers in the State. Niranjan Reddy said that the delay in Rythu Bandhu disbursement was caused due to the problems pertaining to devolution of taxes payable to the State government by the Centre.
He also cautioned farmers not to purchase seeds from unauthorised dealers, and advised them to take receipt of the purchase and also store the empty packets after using the seeds, “just in case”.
Call centre reaches out to beneficiaries
Hyderabad: Agriculture Minister S Niranjan Reddy has inaugurated a call centre at the Rythu Bandhu Samithi office in Public Gardens which will make the procedures to implement welfare schemes like Rythu Bandhu and Rythu Bima seamless and enable the government to get feedback from farmers. “It has only outgoing call facility, where three persons will be calling every beneficiary to take their feedback and to find out if there are any procedural delays in any of the schemes. We will be directly calling and informing officers in the field and will be coordinating between the beneficiaries and the officials regarding any procedural issues. We will also be taking feedback from beneficiaries about how they are utilising their insurance claims etc. The record of every conversation will be shared with the department for further action,” V Anand Rao, CEO of the call centre, told Express.
TS to procure jowar at MSP from farmers
Hyderabad: In a major relief to farmers who cultivated jowar in rabi 2021-22 and have been selling their produce to private traders at low prices, the State government has decided to procure 1,31,345 tonnes of the crop through TS Markfed, at MSP of `2,738 per quintal. Issuing an order to this effect on Wednesday, the State government said that it will reimburse TS Markfed for any losses the agency might incur for procuring jowar at the MSP. The state government has also accorded permission for obtaining credit facility of `405.56 crore to the agency.
For greener pastures
Chief Secretary Somesh Kumar directed to deposit Rythu Bandhu benefits for ‘Vanakalam’ in the bank accounts of farmers from June 28
`4,000 cr
has been raised by the Telangana government so far for the sop
Agriculture Minister asks farmers not to purchase seeds from unauthorised dealers