Hyderabad, May 15: On the eve of the hunger strike to be undertaken by YSR Congress president and MP-elect Y S Jaganmohan Reddy seeking compensation for calamity-hit farmers, chief minister Kiran Kumar Reddy on Saturday night approved the release of Rs 618 crore as input subsidy to them.
The government’s decision came five months after the standing crops were devastated in over 25 lakh acres due to unseasonal rain in December last.
Besides the scheduled fast to be undertaken by Jagan, the TDP also announced a day-long siege of all roads in the state on May 19 on the farmers issue. In the meantime, the rabi crop season too ended without the promised relief reaching the affected farmers.
The chief minister’s office said in a statement late night that a total of 23.2 lakh farmers would get input subsidy. Of the total, 22.2 lakh are small and marginal farmers in 15 districts who lost crops in an extent of 9.54 lakh hectares.
They would get an input subsidy of Rs 546 crore while another one lakh farmers who lost crops in 1.25 lakh hectares would get Rs 72 crore, the release added.
With the amount now sanctioned, the total subsidy component provided by the state to farmers affected by various calamities last year goes up to Rs 1430 crore.
–Agencies