Farmers will get promised assistance: Atchanna

Vijayawada: Agriculture minister K Atchannaidu said the state government would give financial assistance of Rs 20,000 to the farmers as assured in the election manifesto and Rs 4,500 crore was earmarked for it in the state budget.

He was replying to questions raised by members in Council on Tuesday. Marri Rajasekhar, Duvvada Srinivas and P Ramasubba Reddy of YSRCP asked the state government when financial assistance will be given to the farmers as promised by the alliance. The MLCs said kharif season is almost completed and rabi season will begin soon but there is no sign of government disbursing financial assistance to farmers.

They said the NDA alliance parties had assured Rs 20,000 under Annadaata Sukhibhava scheme and Central government Rs 6,000 under PM Kisan Yojana scheme every year.

They said state government earmarked only Rs 4,500 crore for the 2024-25 which will not be sufficient. The MLCs said according to estimates, there are 52 lakh farmers are in Andhra Pradesh and Rs10,000 crore is needed.

They also asked the government when the credit cards will be distributed to the tenant farmers. Replying to the question, the agriculture minister informed that the government is also contemplating to give credit cards to the tenant farmers.

MLCs Thota Trimurthulu and K Srinivas asked the government about the payment of compensation to the farmers for the crop loss suffered by the farmers due to floods and heavy rains that devastated the state.

Minister said that the government had disbursed the flood relief to the farmers, who suffered loss due to heavy rains and floods in the state.