Officials told to be liberal in assessing crop losses

Machilipatnam (Krishna district): Minister for mines and geology and excise Kollu Ravindra reiterated the state government’s commitment to provide financial assistance to farmers who lost their crops due to Cyclone Montha. He directed agriculture department officials to conduct crop loss assessments in a liberal and transparent manner to ensure no farmer is left out of compensation. The minister, accompanied by APSRTC chairman Konakalla Narayana Rao, distributed Dr NTR Bharosa pensions at Pedapatnam village in Machilipatnam Rural mandal on Saturday. He also inspected cyclone-hit paddy fields at Pedapatnamand Kanuru, interacted with affected farmers and distributed essential commodities to flood victims. Speaking on the occasion, Ravindra said that the cyclone had caused a loss of nearly Rs 5,000 crore across the state.

He assured that under the leadership of Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu, all affected farmers would receive due compensation. Highlighting welfare measures, he stated that the state government is distributing pensions to 65 lakh beneficiaries every month, a record unmatched by any other state. He recalled that TDP founder and former chief minister Dr N T Rama Rao first introduced pensions with Rs 30, which were later increased to Rs 2,000 during Chandrababu Naidu’s previous tenure. Criticising the former YSRCP government for failing to fulfil its promise of Rs 3,000 pensions, he said the present NDA coalition has been disbursing Rs 4,000 pensions since April 2024, spending Rs 35,000 crore annually. Later, the minister adopted a tribal family under the Public Private People Partnership (P4) scheme, promising education, employment and housing support.

Machilipatnam market committee chairman Kunche Durga Prasad alias Nani, TDP leaders Kagitha Venkateswara Rao, Gopu Satyanarayana, L Narayana Prasad, M Nageswara Rao, G Ravi and others participated in the programme.