5,624 farmers waiting for ‘Rythu Bandhu’

Marpalli: Several farmers in this region are still kept waiting for input subsidy to be deposited into their accounts under ‘Rythu Bandhu’ scheme. They are running from pillar to post for obtaining the subsidy, but they are vexed by the lack of proper response from officials concerned. They are being told that they would receive a message on their mobile phones as soon as the money is deposited, but most of the farmers have not received any such message. There are 14, 624 farmers in the mandal. Among them, about 9,000 farmers got their money in the accounts while the rest of them are yet to receive the amount. Officials said that they have no role in the transfer of money, and it was up to senior officials to respond on the issue. They added that the reason for not depositing the money could be due to the shortage of cash, or some technical glitches.

The State government provides Rs 4,000 input subsidy per acre for the two crops. As part of the first phase, officials handed over cheques to the beneficiaries. But due to the election code in force, the government planned to deposit the subsidy directly in the account of the beneficiaries. As the Kharif season has not yielded many benefits to the farmers, they rely on government subsidy to meet their financial commitments.