Chandrababu has no moral right to speak about farmers’ issues: Kakani

Nellore: ‘Former Chief Minister Nara Chandrababu Naidu has no moral right to speak about farmers’ issues as he did nothing to agriculture sector during his tenure. Instead he looted crores of rupees of public money under Neeru-Chettu scheme,’ alleged Agriculture Minister Kakani Govardhan Reddy.

Addressing a press conference here on Thursday, the Minister pointed out that it is highly unfortunate and also incorrect for Chandrababu Naidu to create confusion among the farming community over crop insurance procedure. He recalled that he explained the procedure in the Assembly when he was YSRCP MLA in 2014.

Kakani reminded that during TDP regime, crop insurance was paid to farmers considering the shares of farmers, State and Central governments under Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana (PMFBY). But the YSRCP government, after coming to power in 2019, asked the Central government to consider its proposal of paying farmers’ share by the State government along with its share, he stated. Kakani added that the State government started paying insurance to the farmers by bearing the shares of farmers, State and Central governments, in the name of Dr YSR Free Crop Insurance scheme after BJP-led NDA government ignored its proposal.

The Minister claimed that AP is the only State in the entire country that has been implementing such schemes by excluding from the Central government’s PMFBY. He informed that the AP State again joined PMFBY scheme after the Centre accepted its proposal to pay farmers’ share.

He informed that under this scheme the State government paid Rs 2,987 crore to farmers till date. This entire procedure will be implemented under e-crop system and benefited 34 lakh farmers in the State during the present Kharif. He claimed that crop insurance is being implemented in a highly transparent manner by issuing recorded report to the beneficiaries, by taking his signature. But unfortunately, TDP leaders are misguiding farmers over this issue for its political advantage, Kakani criticised and appealed to the farmers not to believe such false statements.