Telangana government deposits Rs 5,785 crore in banks

HYDERABAD: The state government has deposited Rs 5,785 crore in banks to enable farmers to encash cheques soon after distribution.

Following repeated requests made by the Telangana government, the Reserve Bank of India had sent more cash reserves to the state as a special case to support the Rythu Bandhu scheme.

Following severe currency crunch in the state, with all the ATMs and banks going dry, there were concerns over whether the banks will use this amount only for Rythu Bandhu scheme or for other purposes.

Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao had issued a stern warning to the banks to utilise the amount deposited with banks only for Rythu Bandhu Scheme and had said that if they divert this amount for other purposes, the government will initiate stringent action against them.

As many as 58.06 lakh cheques worth Rs 5,608 crore have been printed in the names of farmers and transported to districts. The cheques have been stored in local police stations.

The government has made arrangements to simultaneously distribute new electronic pattadar passbooks to all land-owners, based on the up-dated land records, under the recent drive taken up in state for purification of land records.

Among all the districts barring Hyderabad where the cheques will be distributed, Warangal urban district will get lowest benefit of Rs 69.41 crore and Nalgonda will get highest benefit of Rs 466.24 crore.  

The government had in April deposited Rs 4,112 crores in banks under two installments. This week, it deposited Rs 1,673 crore making the total to Rs 5,785 crore. The cash is being arranged based on the demand in each district. 

Banks will give one-month time to the farmers to encash the cheques. The officials concerned were asked to request the farmers to approach the banks in batches instead of approaching all at a time which will lead to stampede-like situation at banks and also lead to currency shortage.