Don’t withhold Rythu Bandhu amounts, Minister T Harish Rao tells bankers

HYDERABAD: Finance Minister T Harish Rao gave clear instructions to bankers to not withhold the Rythu Bandhu amounts from farmers in future.

The government has noticed instances of some banks not allowing farmers to withdraw their Rythu Bandhu amounts given to them by the State government and also adjusting the amounts against older dues.

In wake of this, the Finance Minister held an emergency meeting with bankers at BRKR Bhavan on Tuesday.  

During the meeting, the bankers responded that no such instructions to withhold the Rythu Bandhu funds were issued.  The Finance Minister issued clear instructions to the bankers not to withhold any of the Rythu Bandhu amounts in future.  

Any amount which had been withheld/adjusted shall be credited back to the accounts of farmers, Harish Rao said. Strict instructions shall be issued to the bank branches by the bankers regarding the same.  District Collectors were also instructed to monitor the same at the district level.  A State level team would also monitor any issues faced by farmers.

Two toll free numbers -  18002001001 and 04033671300 - operational from 8 am to 8 pm, were set up to address any issues faced by farmers.  In addition to this, the Minister also instructed the bankers to expedite the disbursement/renewal of crop loans. Chief Secretary Somesh Kumar, Principal Finance Secretary K Ramakrishna Rao and other officials were present at the meeting.

6,663 crore deposited until Tuesday

The State government, until Tuesday, has deposited `6,663.79 crore under Rythu Bandhu into the accounts of 59.71 lakh farmers. On Tuesday alone, `651.07 crore was deposited into the accounts of 2.10 lakh farmers. The scheme has been extended to cover 1.33 crore acres in this Kharif season so far