ANANTAPUR: Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy came down heavily on TD president and former chief minister N. Chandrababu Naidu.
“Each of his so-called welfare schemes was a scam that benefitted Naidu personally apart from a few of his family members and organisations during his three terms as chief minister,” Jagan Mohan Reddy charged.
"However, your child (Jagan) ruling from the past 53 months has never allowed such practices. He concentrated on welfare of all sections, in particular, the farming community," the Chief Minister underlined.
He was addressing a mammoth public meeting at Puttaparthi of Satya Sai district on Tuesday after releasing ₹2,204.77crore towards the second tranche of the fifth year’s YSR Rythu Bharosa-PM Kisan scheme, which benefits 53.53 lakh SC, ST, BC and minority farmers within Andhra Pradesh.
The CM reiterated his commitment to welfare of farmers during all the five years of his rule. He pointed out that his government has so far spent a whopping ₹1,75,007 crore on various farmers’ welfare schemes, with a major part of it being incurred on YSR Rythu Bharosa-PM Kisan.
Jagan Mohan Reddy maintained that in the last four years, his government has disbursed ₹33,209.81crore under Rythu Bharosa, extending an annual assistance of ₹13,500 each. “The government is paying in excess of ₹17,500 to each eligible farmer under the scheme than what YSRC had promised in its election manifesto,” he stated.
Every year under Rythu Bharosa, the first instalment of ₹7,500 is paid in May to meet the expenses during Kharif sowing. The second instalment of ₹4,000 is given in October or November towards Kharif harvesting and Rabi expenses. The third instalment of ₹2,000 is paid in January or February. This benefit is also being extended to farmers cultivating RoFR and endowment lands.
The Chief Minister said an amount of ₹2.40 lakh crore has been spent so far through DBT welfare schemes, benefitting the various weaker sections of the society, whom the previous TDP regime totally neglected.
“Ours is the only government which is supplying nine-hour free power supply during day time to farmers spending ₹1,700crore on feeder expansion. Our administration has established 10,778 Rythu Bharosa Kendras, handholding farmers from purchasing seeds to selling agricultural produce for MSP. The TD government struggled to supply power for even seven hours,” Jagan Mohan Reddy remarked. He emphasised that people must see the qualitative difference between the working of the two governments.
The CM blamed Chandrababu Naidu for the latter’s focus on his own Heritage company while fixing the price for procuring milk. "Unlike the former CM, we did justice to dairy farmers by countering such selfish dairy conglomerates. Now, every AP farmer gets at least ₹10–₹20 for a litre of milk that he produces," he asserted.
In response to the appeal by local MLA D. Sridhar Reddy, the Chief Minister sanctioned ₹35 crore for development of 31 roads in the constituency.
Agriculture minister K. Govardhan Reddy, Puttaparthi MLA Sridhar Reddy, several MLAs and senior officials participated in the programme.
