TS Govt to Disburse Rs 7,500 cr Rythu Bandhu for Kharif

HYDERABAD: The state government has directed the finance department to mobilise ₹7,500 crores, and sources indicated that the money will be disbursed to farmers as Rythu Bandhu support for the ongoing kharif season. The funds are likely to be disbursed after June 20.

Farmers sowing crops in areas having irrigation facilities are likely to receive the Rythu Bandhu first, to enable them to advance rabi-sowing operations. Those in rain-fed areas would receive the benefit later due to the delay in the arrival of monsoon.

Chief Minister K. Chandrashekar Rao has discussed the issue with finance minister T. Harish Rao and agriculture minister S. Niranjan Reddy, with the ministerial duo tasked with beginning the exercise for disbursal of Rythu Bandhu aid — of ₹5,000 per acre — in farmers’ accounts.

Niranjan Reddy will submit fresh data of farmers, survey number-wise, from all districts to the finance department to facilitate efficient disbursal, sources said.

The Rythu Bandhu data is updated before the commencement of every kharif and rabi season, as a large number of agricultural landowners are selling their lands. This is leading to the deletion and addition of beneficiaries every season. In many instances, agricultural land was also converted for non-agricultural purposes.

For Kharif 2022, the government disbursed Rythu Bandhu on June 28. Although the state government decided to advance the kharif and rabi seasons by a month this year to save the harvest from unseasonal rains and hailstorms in summer, it did not materialise due to a delay in the arrival of monsoon.

Last kharif, the government disbursed ₹7,500 crores under Rythu Bandhu to 63 lakh farmers.