It seems that the ambitious Land Purchase Scheme of Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao to purchase and assign 3 acres of agriculture land to landless Dalit women is steadily taking shape with the government sanctioning 1268.44 acres of land to 512 beneficiaries in nine districts of the state.
A total amount of Rs 3655.09 lakh was spent on the purchase of private land for the scheme till now. The scheme, an election promise of the ruling TRS, was launched by KCR on August 15 on the eve of Independence day. Telangana government had on July 26 issued orders introducing Land Purchase Scheme. The state government aims to cover the poorest of the poor in first phase and other beneficiaries will be receiving the balance of land to make them owners of three acres in the next phases.
In Adilabad district 308.67 acres of land was sanctioned to 106 beneficiaries, Karimnagar 459.62 acres to 216 beneficiaries, Nizamabad 47.37 acres to 16 beneficiaries, Khammam 22.15 acres to 9 beneficiaries, Warangal 21 acres to 7 beneficiaries, Nalgonda 250.24 acres to 102 beneficiaries, Medak 63 acres to 21 beneficiaries, Ranga Reddy 36.39 acres to 15 beneficiaries and in Mahabubnagar district 60 acres land was sanctioned to 20 beneficiaries.
According to officials of Telangana Scheduled Castes Co-operative Development Corporation Limited, through which the government was releasing funds for the land purchase scheme, an amount of Rs 968.24 lakh was spent in Adilabad district for the purchase of land, Rs 1257.45 lakh in Karimnagar, Rs 67.98 lakh in Nizamabad, Rs 115.41 lakh in Khammam, Rs 798.14 lakh in Nalgonda, Rs 182.88 lakh in Medak, Rs 109.32 lakh in Ranga Reddy and Rs 155.67 lakh in Mahabubnagar district. A total amount of Rs 3655.09 lakh was spent on the purchase of private lands for the scheme. Apart from this the state government had registered about 263.61 acres of private land to be sanctioned to 101 beneficiaries.
“Once the Intensified Household Survey data has been compiled there will be clarity on the number of genuine beneficiaries. Then the government would intensify the process of purchase of lands for the scheme and sanctioning lands to the beneficiaries”, says a senior official of the corporation.
As per the Society for Elimination of Rural Poverty (SERP) survey data there are over three lakh dalit households which do not have any kind of land, but these data also include people living in urban and semi-urban areas, where as the scheme covers landless Dalit women dependent on agriculture. Hence the only way to get the correct data of the genuine beneficiaries is from the intensive household survey, he pointed out. The main focus for the annual action plan under SC Sub-plan for the financial year 2014-15, would be on land purchase for landless poor SC households as the SCs in Telangana mostly depend for their daily livelihood and survival on agriculture and allied sectors, he said.
TRS government would be spending Rs 1,500 to Rs 2,500 crore per annum for the land purchase scheme. Under the scheme a comprehensive package would be envisaged which would include providing irrigation facilities, drip facilities, seed, fertilisers, pesticides, ploughing, micro irrigation, energisation and pumpsets for one crop a year in addition to providing funds for land development, preparation of nursery and agricultural inputs. The amount for meeting the cost of cultivation would be directly transferred into the account of the beneficiary.
Source: The New Indian Express