K. Chandrasekhar Rao has warned banks

Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao has warned banks that action would be initiated against them if cheques issued to farmers from May 10 as part of investment support programme are not encashed immediately.

“The banks should pay cash to farmers once they present cheques, or else, action would be taken against them. Farmers should have cash on hand before the onset of monsoon,” Mr. Rao said at the Collectors’ conference to gear them up for launch of the programme.

A release said he asked Collectors to hold meetings with bankers to see free payments to farmers. “Inform bankers in no uncertain terms that action will be taken against them if they fail to pay”. He reminded Collectors that the government made arrangements to enable farmers to get cash the moment they presented them in banks. The launch of the programme was scheduled for May to ensure that the farmers have money well before they take up sowing to coincide with rains.

He asked officials under the leadership of Collectors to take up distribution of cheques and pattadar passbooks (title deeds) for a week from May 10 for all farmers of assigned lands, Record of Rights holders and non-tribals cultivating lands in agency. Ministers, MPs, MLAs, MLCs and other public representatives should be made stakeholders in the programme.

Counselling caution and care as the programme was taken up without experience of handling anything of the sort in the past, Mr. Rao said it envisaged distribution of 58 lakh passbooks and cheques whose printing would be over by the month-end. They would be supplied district, mandal and village wise. But, they should be kept at district headquarters for onward despatch in villages.

The government allotted ? 12,000 crore in the budget for the programme this year in two seasons. A sum of ? 6,000 crore for kharif season was kept in banks. The Collectors were supposed to constitute 2,762 teams, each distributing 300 passbooks a day. It was left to the Collectors to decide the size of the teams based on the number of farmers. But, every team should have a minimum of three officials. The schedule of distribution village and date-wise should be informed to farmers in advance.

Mr. Rao said multiple cheques will be issued to farmers if the value of benefit accruing to them exceeded ? 50,000. The money of farmers who wanted to give up the benefit could be deposited to the accounts of farmers’ coordination committees.