Hyderabad: Demand to implement farmer loan waiver on passbook
Hyderabad: BRS MLA Palla Rajeswara Reddy demanded a comprehensive crop loan waiver for farmers, insisting that all loans up to Rs 2 lakh should be waived without any restrictions and all passbook holders should get the benefit. He said the state government has implemented the scheme only to the tune of Rs 6,000 crore while Rs 12,000 crore is pending for payment to farmers under the Raithu Bharosa Agriculture Investment Support. Speaking at Telangana Bhavan on Friday, Rajeswara Reddy criticised the Congress government for providing inadequate support to farmers.
He said as per the data released by the chief minister himself, the state government gave only Rs 6,000 crore for loan waiver, which is only 30 per cent of the total farmers with crop loans and in terms of amount it is only 20 per cent. “Only Rs 6,000 crore has been released against Rs 31,000 crore required for the scheme announced by the state government,” he said. The BRS MLA pointed out that the Congress had promised to give Rs 7,500 per acre to farmers under Raithu Bharosa while the amount should have been Rs 12,500 crore for 1.5 crore acres. He said the farm loan waiver scheme benefited only 10 lakh out of a total of 40 lakh farmers in the state with crop loans up to Rs 2 lakh.
He also pointed to the rise in farmer suicides since the Congress came to power and demanded immediate release of financial assistance under the Raithu Bharosa scheme. “Revanth Reddy and his cabinet are deceiving farmers with false promises,” he said, comparing their deceptive tactics to Joseph Goebbels. Rajeswara Reddy reminded that adequate financial assistance was provided to farmers during the BRS regime, including Rs 70,000 crore to farmers under the Raithu Bandhu Agricultural Investment Support and Rs 30,000 crore under crop loan waiver. Rs 7,000 crore was paid as insurance to the families of 1.2 lakh farmers. He urged the Congress government to fulfil its promises and ensure that all eligible farmers get the benefit of the scheme.
