Telangana, AP To Be Developed Equally: Centre

Union Minister for Agriculture Radha Mohan Singh said that the Centre was equally committed to developing Telangana and Andhra Pradesh.

Speaking on various developmental issues, Singh said that the Centre had already taken various measures to protect the interests of the farmers of the two States.

"The Indian government has minimized agricultural costs by providing subsidies on seeds and fertilizers to farmers, and reducing interest rates on loans for agricultural lands. Minimized cost and maximized production will always be the aim of this government," he said.

Detailing the Modi government's efforts to help the farmers of the two States, the minister said that the Centre had sanctioned Rs 874.9 crores via the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) over two years, whereas the previous UPA-led government had released only Rs 153.6 crores to the then united Andhra Pradesh over five years.

Singh also said that it was the State government's responsibility to ensure that the benefits given by the Centre to its people, including farmer subsidies, reached them through the proper channel and on time. He also urged the State governments to educate the farmers about the Fasal Bhima Yojana initiated by the Centre.

Expressing concerns over the delay in Soil Health Cards being provided to the farmers in the State under the 40-crore Soil Health Card scheme initiated by Modi, the union minister urged the TRS-led government to speed up the process and have the cards issued to the farmers at the earliest.

"The Centre also sanctioned a horticulture university, three Agriculture Business Incubation centres, one food testing lab, and seven new varsities of field crops, including a high Zinc-rich variety of rice," Singh said.

Besides Union minister Bandaru Dattatreya, State BJP chief K Laxman, MLA N V S S Prabhakar and others were present.