Farmers to get cheques drawn on eight banks

The Telangana government on Wednesday issued guidelines for implementation of investment support scheme for farmers at ₹ 4,000 per acre per season which will be disbursed by cheques drawn on eight participating banks.

The banks are — State Bank of India which will cover 251 mandals, Andhra Bank (130 mandals), Syndicate Bank (38), Corporation Bank (31), Indian Overseas Bank (27), Canara Bank (23), Telangana Grameena Bank (33) and Andhra Pradesh Grameena Vikas Bank (35).

According to the guidelines, the Commissioner of Agriculture will open only centralised accounts in participating banks at Hyderabad and the banks will handover to him or his authorised officers cheques sorted village-wise.

The cheques can be encashed by the farmers at any of the branches of the banks across the State.

Special case

As a special case, SBI which is covering the largest area has requested opening of multiple accounts in the city to overcome the problem of mandatory six digit cheque numbers that are printed at the bottom of the instruments.

This was because the bank had to issue more than 10 lakh cheques in which case each account can handle only up to 9,99,999 cheques within the six digits.

The bank also informed the government that concurrent access to limited accounts by all its branches spread across the State would increase the load on the core banking system and delay the payment process.

Therefore, it suggested opening of 30 accounts for as many districts at Hyderabad for seamless Management Information System (MIS) and quick disbursal of amounts.

Order cheques

Andhra Bank requested for opening of two accounts for the purpose while all other banks agreed to open only one account each.

The cheques will be pre-printed by banks and they will be neither account payee nor bearer cheques.

They will be ‘order cheques’ bearing the name of the scheme ‘Rythu Bandhu’, name of the pattadar along with his pattadar passbook number, name of the village, mandal and district, amount and specimen signature of the Commissioner of Agriculture.

If the amount per farmer exceeded ₹49,990, two or more cheques in multiples of the sum will be issued, according to the guidelines issued by the government.

Only in person

The cheques will be issued personally to the pattadars at gram sabhas in the presence of public representatives, including members of farmers coordination committees, as per a village-wise schedule. Nominees of pattadars will not be allowed to collect the cheques. Officers will deliver the cheques to pattadars at their houses if they fail to turn up.

Farmer database

The Commissioner of Agriculture will get data about farmers from Chief Commissioner of Land Administration and work out beneficiary wise amounts with the help of National Informatics Centre through development of a separate MIS portal.