Kakinada, Dec 23: Minister for Agriculture Kurasala Kannababu said that the third tranche of YSR Rythu Bharosa and Nivar Cyclone compensation would be released on December 29.

Speaking to the media here on Wednesday, he said under third phase of Rythu Bharosa Rs 2,000 each would be disbursed to about 50.47 lakh farmers working out to Rs 1, 009 crores.

Along with this, the State will also credit Rs 646 crores towards compensation for Nivar Cyclone crop loss.

It was identified that Krishna, Guntur, Prakasam, Kadapa, East Godavari, West Godavari, Visakhapatnam, and Chittoor districts suffered maximum crop loss in the cyclone. Nearly 8.34 lakh farmers would be compensated with the input subsidies.

The Minister said that this season started off with good rains, where almost all the reservoirs, dams were filled up to the brim, but due to floods and cyclones, crops were damaged to a great extent. However, Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy had released the input subsidies in the same season of the crop loss in less than a month. The input subsidies for June to September was given in October by disbursing Rs 136.14 Crore, and the compensation for crop loss in October was paid in November by crediting Rs 132.63 Crore, taking it to a total of 268.77 Crore, excluding the Nivar cyclone compensation. As part of the cyclone relief measures, nearly 1.15 lakh quintals of seed have been provided to the farmers at 80 percent subsidy.

While the state government has been working as farmer priority, the opposition TDP leaders are still playing cheap politics over the crop insurance and input subsidies. The crop insurance for 2019, was released this year by crediting Rs 1252 Crore benefiting over 9 lakh farmers across the State. The previous government had left unpaid arrears of Rs 784 Crore towards crop loans, which was cleared by the current government. He said that the opposition leaders have no moral right to speak on the farmer’s issues. He challenged the opposition leader Chandrababu Naidu to come for a discussion on farmers and agriculture reforms taken up in both the government's.

Minister Kannababu said that the Chief Minister shall take part in the distribution of house site pattas in East Godavari district and also inaugurate a big layout in Komaragiri near Kakinada on December 25. He said that the distribution of house site pattas will take place as a fortnightly celebration and those eligible people who didn't receive the parts can reapply and will be provided with house patta in 90 days.