Agriculture Minister Somireddy Chandramohan Reddy has ruled out the need for a CBI probe into the Visakhapatnam land scandal, asserting that an inquiry by a Special Investigation Team (SIT) is enough to expose the culprits.
Addressing the media at the Secretariat on Friday, Mr. Reddy said if YSR Congress president Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy had faith in the CBI, he should first disclose his “ill-gotten assets” being scrutinised by it (CBI) and then the State government would not hesitate to hand over the land cases to the investigating agency.
Mr. Chandramohan Reddy said that Mr. Jagan Mohan Reddy had made it a habit of criticising the government for everything.
“Being mired in CBI cases, he has no right to utter that word (CBI),” Mr. Chandramohan Reddy said, expressing the confidence that the SIT would facilitate delivery of justice to the innocent people whose lands were allegedly grabbed in the port city. Mr. Chandramohan Reddy said the State Level Bankers’ Committee had decided at its meeting on Friday to lend ₹87,471 crore to the agriculture and allied sectors during 2017-18 as against the ₹91,557 crore asked by the government. Of the total sanctioned credit for the year, 10% would be given to tenant farmers.
Interest-free loans
They would also be sanctioned interest-free loans of up to ₹1,00,000, he said, adding that Loan Eligibility Cards were distributed to three lakh farmers and 5.60 lakh more were to be given in the coming months.
Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu will take a decision on releasing agricultural input subsidy of ₹1,680 crore on June 17.