The Telangana government on Thursday launched a new scheme in which the farmers in the state will get Rs 8,000 per acre each every year as crop investment support.
Launching the programme titled ‘Rythu Bandhu’, Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao claimed that Telangana is the first state in India to implement a farmer investment support scheme.
The government plans to spend Rs 12,000 crore every year under this scheme, benefiting 58 lakh farmers. The financial assistance will be for two crops each year.
The Chief Minister told a public meeting at Indira Nagar in Karimnagar district that under the first phase, the government has made Rs 6,000 crore available in the banks.
KCR, as Rao is popularly known, distributed cheques among the farmers to formally launch the scheme.
He also distributed ‘pattadar’ pass books among farmers. The land title documents were prepared after a comprehensive land survey across the state. He pointed out that the survey identified 1.40 crore acres as cultivable land in the state.
KCR said the exercise for purification of land records was taken up for effective implementation of the ‘Rythu Bandhu’ scheme.
Ministers and officials will distribute cheques and pass books among farmers across the state over the next one week.
KCR claimed that Telangana, the youngest state of India, is redefining the future of agriculture in the country by implementing innovative schemes.
The Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) chief said he was committed to irrigate one crore acres of land by completing all irrigation projects.
He claimed that Telangana is the only state supplying 24-hour free electricity to farmers. The state government has waived crop loans and was also implementing a Rs 5 lakh insurance scheme.
A day before the launch of ‘Rythu Bandhu’, the Chief Minister on Wednesday announced the waiver of Rs 700 crore water dues, benefiting lakhs of farmers.
KCR spoke about the all-round progress the state has made during the last four years and reiterated his commitment to transform it into ‘golden Telangana’. He listed several schemes launched by his government for the welfare of all sections of people.
KCR said his government could do all this because Telangana is a rich state. He claimed that Telangana is the only state in the country to record 20 per cent growth in its revenues during the last two years.
He targeted the opposition parties, especially the Congress, saying TRS had achieved in four years what they could not in the last 70 years.
The TRS chief appealed to the people to vote for the party in next year’s elections so that the government can continue its journey on the path of rapid growth of the state.
