Telangana to spend more on printing cheque than sop for marginal farmers
Hyderabad: The Telangana state government is facing a peculiar problem in disbursing financial assistance to farmers, who own one gunta farms — it would be spending more money for printing the cheque than the assistance itself.
Under Rythu Bandu scheme, the government is going to disburse a financial assistance of Rs 4,000 per acre to each farmer from April 19.
The problem, however, arises if a farmer owns only one gunta land as it would entitle him to an assistance of a mere Rs 100, which is less than Rs 140, which is the cost of printing one cheque leaf.
Of the total 60 lakh farmers in the state, nearly 1.5 lakh own less than an acre. One acre is 40 guntas and most farmers own land between 1 gunta to 10 guntas.
Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao directed officials to distribute cheques to all farmers even if they hold less than an acre or own land as less as one gunta. Accordingly, Rs 4,000 per acre sop is calculated as Rs 100 for each gunta.
The printing of each cheque turned expensive due to printing of details on each cheque such as name of farmer, extend of land owned, name of village, mandal, district besides name of the scheme (Rythu Bandu), logo of Telangana government on the top and digital signature of agriculture commissioner.
Banks are collecting Rs 140 each to print these customised cheques. An order has been already placed for printing of 60 lakh cheques with eight PSU banks.
The printing of cheques for 60 lakh farmers has been going on at a brisk pace. Nearly 10 lakh cheques have already been printed.
The other problem being faced by the government is that as per revenue records some farmers own over 50 acres, which is against the provisions of the Land Ceiling Act.
Some farmers own lands ranging from 60 acres to 100 acres. One such farmer in Warangal district was found to own over 830 acres but revenue officials view it as data entry mistake and it could be 8.3 acres and the issue is under inquiry. The cheques for all such farmers holding above 50 acres has been kept on hold and will be issued only after verification.
The government has decided to distribute cheques to 60 lakh farmers in phases from April 19 to May 31.
Officials said the villages are being shortlisted in alphabetical order for distribution.
