Rythu Bandhu assistance cheques of the NRIs farmers in their bank accounts

The State government is keen on depositing the Rythu Bandhu assistance cheques of the NRIs farmers in their bank accounts. Many of the NRIs owning land in the State, were working in different countries and they were not in a position to collect them in person. Irrespective of their income levels, the State government had sanctioned Rs 4,000 per acre per crop as financial assistance to all farmers under Ryhtu Bandhu scheme and released cheques for the distribution. Out of around 49 lakh cheques and Pattadar Pass Books (PPBs) printed, the Agriculture and Revenue departments officials have so far distributed 44 lakh cheques and PPBs to farmers and still five lakh cheques were with the department out of which NRIs share is above 60 per cent.

Chief Minister K Chandrashekhar Rao who held a review meeting on the distribution of Rythu Bandhu cheques and PPBs, sought an opinion from both Agriculture and Revenue departments on the distribution of investment assistance cheques to NRIs and asked them to come up with a plan which will not create any troubles in future. The officials also mentioned that the Rythu Bandhu scheme cheques validity was for three months from the date of printing i.e, May 10 hence the department officials should hand over those cheques well before the three months period.

The Agriculture department sources informed that the government was seriously considering to get consent from the individual who is residing in other countries through an e-mail and deposit such investment assistance amount into their accounts. For this, the department was preparing a separate format and it will be forwarded to the NRIs and in return, they have to send mail to the department with bank details, Aadhaar number and other land details to the agriculture department. After receiving such details the department was also planning to contact those landowners through voice message or calls to ensure the genuineness of landowners before depositing the amount.

“A special cell will be created at the Agriculture Commissionerate to oversee the NRIs – Rythu Bandhu payments, once the department receives the confirmation mail from the NRIs, the department will deposit the investment assistance amount into their accounts, but the final decision was yet to be taken in this regard,” said Principal Secretary for Agriculture C Parthasarathi to Telangana Today. The State government has constituted a committee to take appropriate decision on this issue with government advisor Rajiv Sharma and other top agriculture officials, according to sources, the committee will give its report to Chief Minister after the final deadline of June 20 to distributed PPBs and cheques was completed.

Meanwhile, the agriculture and revenue department officials at the Mandal level are facing severe pressure from the family members of NRIs. They are insisting revenue officials hand over Pattadar Pass Books and Rythu Bandhu cheques which were in the name of their family members but the revenue officials are rejecting the proposals and requesting them to wait for sometime as the government is yet to take a decision on the issue. “Every day around two to four NRI family members are visiting our office and asking for PPBs and cheques, we are educating them on guidelines issued by the government,” said Nandigam (Rangareddy district) VRO Anjanailu, adding that in some cases the NRI family members wanted only PPBs and they are not showing interest to collect Rythu Bandhu cheques which was not possible as per the government instructions, he said.