Hyderabad: To woo the state’s farming community, the TRS government allocated 26 percent of its budget. Of this, Rs 15,788 crore is in the agriculture and marketing sectors, Rs 25,000 crore for irrigation and Rs 5,650 crore in the power sector to provide farmers free electricity.
The total fund earmarked for farmers across the three sectors is nearly Rs 46,000 crore. The TRS government already waived crop loans up to Rs 1 lakh and spent Rs 16,124 crore for the benefit of 35,29,944 farmers.
Around Rs 12,000 crore has been allotted for the ‘Rythu Lakshmi’ Scheme which has been introduced to extend financial support to farmers, for each crop in every season. Under this scheme, every farmer will receive Rs 4,000 per acre per season as a free investment support. To end exploitation of farmers by middle men, to augment unity and coordination among farmers, “Rythu Samanvaya Samithies” (farmer coordination committees) are also being formed.
At the time of state formation, the storage capacity was only 4 lakh tonnes. Over the last 3 ½ years, the state constructed 356 godowns and enhanced the capacity to 22.47 lakh tonnes. Funds were also earmarked to ensure that there is at least one godown in every mandal.
With an allocation of Rs 25,000 crore for irrigation, the state government aims to complete 8 major and 11medium irrigation projects this year including the first phase of Kaleswaram to provide irrigation facility for nearly 36 lakh acres.
To provide free power to 33 lakh farmers who depend on agriculture borewells, the state has provided Rs 5,650 crore as power subsidy. Power discoms will be paid to provide free power for farmers.
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