Hussain Saify
Hyderabad: In order to ease the burden of the farmers caused due to the lockdown the state level bankers come ahead setting a target of Rs 31,963 crore for the Vanakalam crop season. The season starts after the rain sets in the state. A loan worth 11,093 has already granted as on Tuesday. The amount granted as of July previous year was only Rs 10,580 crore.
Agriculture Minister Singireddy Niranjan Reddy while addressing to the media said Coorporative Banks have sanctioned Rs 1516.88 crore till date. “It was only Rs 1296 crore last year. While 11,77,326 farmers have availed loans last year this year the number increased to 12,97,267,” He added that farmers were given more loans compared with previous years of the Vanakalam season.
Minister also says that Telangana government stood behind the farmer while COVID was at its peak. “The State lost revenue of Rs 50,000 crore but we have distributed Rs 7251 crore to farmers under the Rytu Bandhu scheme. Every single grain produced by the farmer was procured by going to their doorsteps at a cost of Rs 30,000 crore and farmers obeying the direction of the Chief Minister who implemented the regulated cropping pattern suggested by the experts,” he said.
On emphasizing the importance of agriculture sector he adds “The government waived loans up to Rs 25,000 to 2.87 lakh farmers in a single go. While 41, 31,004 farmers availed farm loans last year, 20 percent of them availed loans from cooperative banks and the rest from commercial banks.” He adds that 70 percent of the farmers in Telangana have assured the irrigation which is helping them to grow more crops.
“Rural Telangana was strengthened and farmers become debt free due to the programmes launched and implemented by Chief Minister K Chandrashekhar Rao. Loans to women groups, KCR kits, Aasara pensions, Rytu Bandhu, procurement of grain by the government, and a bumper crop made this possible,” he said.