As the Telangana Assembly polls approach, BRS President and Telangana Chief Minister K. Chandrashekar Rao has decided to go to any extent to secure a hat-trick victory for BRS in the December Assembly polls this year.
Surveys commissioned by KCR reportedly revealed severe anti-incumbency against the BRS government among farmers due to the failure to implement the Rs 1 lakh crop loan waiver scheme promised in the 2018 Assembly polls.
KCR immediately sprung into action to lure farmers by waiving off crop loans on a war footing. He obtained statistics from banks on the loans owed by farmers, and it was found that the farmers owe Rs 19,000 crore in loans to banks.
KCR decided to waive off the loans by September 15, with expectations that the Assembly poll notification will be issued in October at any time, making it impossible to credit the loan amount in the bank accounts of farmers due to Election Commission restrictions.
However, mobilizing Rs 19,000 crore in a month is a herculean task. With this, KCR decided to utilize the amount mobilized through leasing out the Outer Ring Road, Hyderabad, and auctioning Kokapet lands in Hyderabad.
The company that bagged the ORR contract reportedly paid Rs 7,300 crore to the state government. The sale of 45 acres in Kokapet on Thursday fetched a whopping Rs 3,320 crore. The highest bid was Rs 100.75 crore per acre, and the average bid was Rs 73.23 crore per acre.
The KCR government started crediting the loan amount into the bank accounts of farmers on Thursday itself. On the first day, it credited Rs 35,000 to Rs 41,000 to the accounts of each farmer, and this amount will be increased every day to cover farmers owing loans up to Rs 1 lakh each.
KCR is planning to sell more government land parcels in the next few days around Hyderabad to mobilize funds for implementing cash transfer schemes before the Assembly polls.