Ongole, April 22 : For the third consecutive year, Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy on Friday credited Rs 1261 crore directly into the accounts of 1.02 crore women belonging to ‘Self-help Groups’ (SHGs) as interest reimbursement under ‘YSR Sunna Vaddi’ scheme. Addressing a large gathering here on the occasion, the Chief Minister said that the state government is committed to women empowerment and thus rolled out schemes like Sunna Vaddi, Aasara, and Cheyutha to strengthen women in all aspects. He said in the last three years, the government had disbursed Rs 3,615 crore under YSR Sunna Vaddi scheme benefiting all those women who availed of loans and made timely repayments. Reddy said that the government had also discussed with the banks and reduced the interest rates for women to 8.5-9.5 percent from the existing 12.5-13.5 percent. The Chief Minister opined that the previous TDP government had betrayed women by promising to waive off pending loans during the 2014 polls, wherein return the SHG women have been burdened with over Rs 14205 crore, losing their credentials and joining in NPA list. Besides failing to keep the promise of waiving the outstanding loans, he stated that the previous Chandrababu Naidu headed government had also discontinued the Sunna Vaddi scheme for the SHG women and burdened them with Rs 3036 crore as interest for their loans, and by 2019 the outstanding loans reached to Rs 25,517 crore. Unlike the previous government, where 18.36 percent SHGs were on NPA list, the current government with good reforms brought down the number drastically to 0.73 percent, where the number of women in SHGs increased to 1.02 crore from 80 lakh, Reddy said. The Chief Minister said that the government is committed to women’s welfare, economic progress, and overall development of women. Listing out various welfare schemes, he said that since the inception of the government Rs 1,36,694 crore has been disbursed through DBT without any middlemen or any corruption, where Rs 94,318 crore of the total amount was credited directly to the women beneficiaries. Stating that he was fighting with the demons in the form of Chandrababu Naidu, Pawan Kalyan, and a section of the media, the Chief Minister said that he had implemented all the welfare schemes despite the financial crisis due to Covid and stood by the people. Ministers B Muthyalanaidu, Adimulapu Suresh, Meruga Nagarjuna, and other public representatives, and senior officials were present at the event. DP CS1746