Niranjan demands unconditional farm loan waiver

Former minister Singireddy Niranjan Reddy demanded that the government waive farmers’ loans without any conditions and implement the Rythu Bharosa scheme to support the farming community.
In a press meet held at Telangana Bhavan, he emphasised that there should be no restrictions on loan waivers and accused the government of imposing unnecessary restrictions to reduce the number of eligible farmers.
Niranjan Reddy criticised the government orders on loan waiver as flawed and claimed that despite the Chief Minister’s assurances, the guidelines have not been changed. He accused the government of coming to power with false promises and now burdening farmers with debts and interests. The former minister highlighted that even Chandrababu Naidu, who opposed the formation of Telangana till the last moment, acknowledged that Telangana has grown to have the highest per capita income in the country in the last 10 years. He pointed out that there are 60 lakh farmers with bank accounts in the state, but only 11 lakh are being promised loan waivers, questioning the fate of the remaining 49 lakh farmers.
He criticised the use of ration cards as a criterion for identifying farmers, questioning the status of those without ration cards. He accused the government of wanting to create a show by helping a few farmers and stressed that no classification or restrictions should be imposed when it comes to aiding farmers. He demanded clarity on the status of loans left by the previous government and insisted that all loans up to Rs. 2 lakh should be waived unconditionally.
Niranjan Reddy questioned the rationale behind stopping the Rythu Bharosa scheme while continuing with loan waivers, suggesting that the same criteria should apply to both. He demanded that the government to reveal the number of farmers with loans up to Rs. 1 lakh and Rs. 2 lakh and criticized the current administration for shifting funds from Rythu Bharosa to loan waivers.
He also pointed out that the government had promised to waive Rs. 40,000 crore initially, later reducing it to Rs. 31,000 crore. He called for an unconditional loan waiver using the Pattadar passbook as the standard and emphasized that the previous government had waived Rs. 29,000 crore in loans in two phases without any restrictions.