Amaravati: 143 crore released under Kapu Nestham Phase-2

Amaravati: Minister for BC welfare Chelluboyina Venugopala Krishna on Saturday credited Rs 143 crore to 95,245 beneficiaries under Kapu Nestam scheme second phase, covering those who could not make it in first phase.

Speaking on the occasion, the minister said that the state government is committed to the welfare of Kapus and thus all the eligible women from Kapu, Balija, Ontari and Telaga communities who were not included in the scheme earlier in June will be receiving Rs 15,000 as financial assistance under Kapu Nestam.

Although the scheme was launched in June, Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy gave an opportunity for those who were left out to apply within a month, and now all those eligible women are provided with the financial assistance, he said and added that a total of 3,30,605 women were benefited through Kapu Nestam scheme and Rs 495.87 crore has been credited to their accounts. Minister Vegugopala Krishna urged the women to use the money for economic empowerment.

He stated that over Rs 5,542 crore was spent on the Kapu welfare through Kapu Corporation in the last 16 months, which was way more than the actual amount promised by the Chief Minister during elections. In the previous government, Kapus were neglected and were used for the cheap politics by TDP leaders. Former chief minister N Chandrababu Naidu promised to provide reservations to Kapus even though it was not in his hand and created a rift between BCs and Kapus, and even tried to benefit from the situation, he alleged.

Meanwhile, Kapu Corporation chairman Jakkampudi Raja said that Chief Minister Jagan Mohan Reddy had fulfilled almost 90 per cent of the poll promises in just 16 months of forming the government, prioritising the backward classes, Kapus and minorities.

In Praja Sankalpa Yatra, he witnessed the plight of poor people and brought solutions right from his heart, he said and criticised TDP chief Naidu for "betraying" Kapus during his rule, by failing to keep his promise of allocating Rs 1,000 crore for Kapu welfare. He said that Naidu used BCs and Kapus for the sake of elections and left them after securing the power and thus people rejected him. While Naidu deceived the Kapu community in terms of reservations and poor allocations of funds, the Chief Minister had gone beyond the manifesto to benefit the Kapu community, he claimed.