Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy on Saturday announced the launch of an e-marketing platform for handlooms and handicrafts on October 2, and remitted a sum of approximately ₹195 crore into the bank accounts of 81,024 weavers under the YSR Nethanna Nestham-II scheme from his camp office.
Addressing the beneficiaries through a video-conference, Mr. Jagan Mohan Reddy said financial assistance was being disbursed to the weavers six months in advance to help them cope with the crisis precipitated by the outbreak of coronavirus.
A sum of ₹600 crore was given to the weavers in the last 13 months, whereas the TDP government did not even disburse ₹200 crore in five years, he said.
Under the YSR Nethanna Nestham scheme, ₹24,000 was being given to each weaver family owning a loom, at the rate of ₹2,000 per month.
Those left out can register through the ward and village secretariats to avail themselves of the assistance next month.
Dues cleared
Besides, Mr. Jagan Mohan Reddy released ₹103 crore to APCO to clear the dues of the weavers’ cooperative societies and ₹109 crore towards the cost of masks procured from them.
The Chief Minister said he had personally witnessed the plight of the weavers during his ‘Praja Sankalpa Padayatra’, and wanted to make raw material available to them at affordable price and in marketing their produce.
He went on to list the slew of welfare schemes being implemented by his government, and claimed that the ward and village secretariats were a path-breaking initiative aimed at taking governance to the people’s doorstep.
Later, Mr. Jagan Mohan Reddy interacted with the beneficiaries in the presence of Ministers Mekapati Goutham Reddy, Botcha Satyanarayana and M. Sankaranarayana, and senior officials concerned.