AP Govt spent 17,361.21cr more than Telangana on agriculture: Somireddy
andhrapradesh | Written by : Suryaa Desk
Agriculture Minister Somireddy Chandramohan Reddy has come down heavily on the leaders of opposition parties for their comments that AP should learn from Telangana. Releasing a white paper on Agriculture department’s achievements in the last four-and-a-half years here on Thursday, the minister said AP spent Rs 17,361.21 crore more than Telangana on agriculture. He said those who do not know fundamentals of agriculture should desist from making disparaging remarks.
People such as BJP leader GVL Narasimha Rao should be made to work in fields for six months to make them understand the difficulties of farmers. “I came from an agriculture family and know the difficulties of farmers. The TDP government understands it, hence it has waived Rs 24,500 crore worth farmer loans in a phased manner. The fourth installment of Rs 8,000 crore will be deposited in the beneficiaries accounts shortly,” he said.
The minister said compared to 2.4 per cent growth rate in agriculture and allied sectors at the national level during 2014-15, Andhra Pradesh achieved 11 percent growth rate. Comparatively the growth rate was just 2.73 percent in Telangana. “Though there was no cooperation from the Centre, the State government has procured maize, chilies and red gram to help the farmers,” the minister said.
According to him, while AP has provided Rs 5,634.5 crore as input subsidy to farmers, Telangana has provided just Rs 1,302 crore to the farmers. Andhra Pradesh is on top in farm loans and farm mechanisation and stood as a model State in implementation of DBT (Direct Benefit Transfer). Somireddy said that while the State government was making every effort to help the farmers, the people like Jagan Mohan Reddy, who do not even come to the Assembly to discuss the public issues, are making baseless comments.
He dared the critics to name a chief minister who had done a better work for farmers other than Chandrababu Naidu. The minister said as per the norms of NDRF, the State government has to pay Rs 166.45 crore towards natural disasters relief during 2018-19, but the State government has spent an additional Rs 29.45 crore.