AP govt plans to subsidise drip irrigation for 3 lakh hectares

What Atchan Naidu said…

♦ YSRCP failed to settle Rs 1167 cr arrears to farmers

♦ Drip irrigation equipment will be provided at subsidised rates

♦ Rs 176 cr of arrears will be released soon

♦ AP aims to generate Rs 3,450 cr income through improved drip irrigation

Vijayawada: Kinjarapu Atchan Naidu, Andhra Pradesh Agriculture Minister on Friday said the NDA Government led by Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu will offer subsidy for taking up drip irrigation in three lakh hectares across the State.

Blaming the previous YSRCP Government for ignoring the sector completely during the past five years, he said after a review at a meeting at Amaravati that the earlier regime had failed to settle arrears to the tune of Rs 1167 crore to the farmers. He said the YSRCP Government relegated the leading State in the country to the last place in the country in the field of drip irrigation.

During the review, he directed the officials to provide drip irrigation equipment to the farmers at a subsidised rate and to start the registrations immediately. The Minister said that due to the negligence of the Jagan Government, drip irrigation had become weak in the State, and in the past five years, the YSRCP Government had adopted an extremely partisan attitude towards the farmers.

Naidu stated that they will release the arrears at the earliest, Rs 176 crore has been released recently which will be distributed soon.

He alleged that the previous government had also failed to make use of funds sanctioned under Micro Irrigation Fund by the Central Government through NABARD. The Minister said that a target has been set to implement drip irrigation by offering subsidies in an area of three lakh hectares this year. He said that the framers of the State will get an additional income of Rs 3,450 crore directly and indirectly.

He recalled that in 2004, the then Prime Minister Vajpayee had set up a task force under the leadership of then Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu, to develop drip irrigation across the country. Under Naidu’s leadership, Andhra Pradesh ranked first in the implementation of drip irrigation in the country between 2015-2018 with 17.6 per cent participation, while Jagan Mohan Reddy brought 5.7 per cent participation between 2019-2023 and destroyed the drip irrigation sector, he pointed out.