Congress Govt has Diverted Rs 7,000 cr Earmarked for Dalit Bandhu. Alleges BJP leader

Hyderabad: The election code had prevented the earlier BRS government from depositing `7,000 crore in farmers’ accounts under the rythu bandhu scheme. And now the Congress government has diverted this amount and intends to evade farm loan waiver by some dubious means, charged Aleti Maheshwar Reddy, the BJP floor leader in the Assembly.

Farmers in the state are in their worst times as their crops have dried up due to non-availability of water. They are unable to raise new crops as bankers have served notices for repayment of the old loans. Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy had promised to waive farm loans up to ` two lakh before December 9. Now they have left the farmers in the lurch, Reddy said, while addressing a press conference here on Monday.

Asking the Revanth Reddy government to disclose where `7,000 crore meant for farmers had been diverted, Maheshwar Reddy said that the state government had raised an additional `13,000 crore loan in the last 13 weeks. It sold bonds in the open market to raise another `4,000 crore. Even after raising funds, the government has been not fulfilling its poll promises of waiving of loan of farmers and has not released `15,000 assistance announced for tenant farmers and `12,000 promised to agricultural labourers, he said.

Minister for Legislative Affairs D. Sridhar Babu is acting as the de-facto chief minister and has diverted 8 tmc ft of water from Sriram sagar to another region while completely ignoring north Telangana districts, he said.