VIJAYAWADA: Minister Peddireddy Ramachandra Reddy has claimed that Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy “is one step ahead of others” in extending help to agriculture and to farmers.
The government dug 19,908 bore wells through the YSR Jalakala scheme, he said in response to questions raised by members in the state Assembly on Friday.
He explained to the House the progress of the programmes offered to the farmers through the YSR Jalakala. “Earlier, the Telugu Desam government spent only Rs 99.35 crore for NTR Jalakala but the YSRC government spent Rs 212.26 crore in the past three and half years,” he said.
The minister said that under YSR Jalkala, the government is sanctioning free bore wells to eligible farmers in both the command and non-command areas.
“Apart from that, we are also providing 180 metre cable along with power transformer, power tools to the farmers free of charge,” he said.
He said the total number of applications received so far through online and offline was 2,28,421, out of which 1,88,571 applications have been approved by VROs in the secretariats.
He said 66,190 applications have been addressed by the Groundwater Department survey. Of these, the collectors have given administrative sanction to 42,388 applications and completed drilling of 19,908 bore wells.
The minister said, “We have said two lakh boreholes will be drilled from 2020 to 2024. This would benefit three lakh farmers. The YSR Jalkala scheme is being implemented with the aim of providing irrigation water to five lakh acres.”
He said that under this scheme, the government is providing free power connections to bore wells and 1721 bore wells were electrified free of cost with a spend of 54.95 crore.
Recalling that the previous Telugu Desam government granted free bore wells to the farmers in the name of NTR Jalasiri, Ramachandra Reddy said the scheme was implemented only in command areas, that too, only up to 200 feet of drilling. Only 33,116 bore wells have been sanctioned by the TD government in its five-year term.
He said CM Jagan has taken a decision to grant bore wells under YSR Jalkala to every eligible farmer in command as well as non-command areas.
“Drilling is allowed to a depth recommended by geologists, we are accepting applications both online and offline, for transparency, and verifying every application through VROs at the secretariat level. Due to abundant rain in these four years and availability of irrigation water in ponds, even the farmers did not show much interest for bore wells,” he said.
The minister said, “The state government is giving high priority to agriculture, offering free power supply to 1.21 lakh connections and applications for another 4,000 connections are pending.”
