NAVEENA GHANATE
Hyderabad
The Telangana government has announced that all loans of farmers less than Rs 99,999 have been waived.
On the auspicious occasion of Independence Day, Chief Minister KCR decided to release funds for waiving farm loans once again to free farmers from debt.
“Keeping an election promise given to the farmers of the state, Chief Minister KCR said that farmers who have taken loans of less than Rs 1 lakh will be freed from debt,” the government statement said.
The Special Principal Secretary of the Finance Department, Ramakrishna Rao, issued orders regarding this on Monday.
He said that the money would be deposited in banks immediately on behalf of the farmers. Rs 5,809.78 crore was released to waive the loans of 9,02,843 farmers on Monday.
After coming to power in 2018, Chief Minister KCR had promised to waive farm loans of less than Rs 1 lakh. He also said that the loan waiver will be executed in phases.
After assuming power in 2018, Chief Minister KCR directed officials to formulate a comprehensive action plan on waiving farm loans. As per the orders of Chief Minister KCR the officials of the Agriculture and Finance Departments wrote special letters to banks and secured comprehensive details.
It took a year for all this to happen. However, due to the sudden outbreak of Corona worldwide, the lockdown and the consequences of demonetisation the government faced difficulty in gathering resources. But it has already paid Rs 1,943.64 crore to banks to waive the loans of 7,19,488 farmers who have taken loans of less than Rs 50,000.
On August 3, Rs 237.85 crore was released for 62,758 farmers who had loans less than Rs 41,000. On August 4, Rs 126.50 crore worth of loans were waived for 31,339 farmers who had taken loans of le than Rs 43,000 and the funds were deposited in bank accounts.
Later, the money for the latest waiver for waiving loans up to Rs 99,999 was deposited. Now, the government has paid Rs 7,753.43 crore to 16.66 lakh farmers for waiving their loans.
Health Minister Harish Rao said, “On the eve of Independence Day, the Telangana treasury made the highest-ever payment in the history of the state by clearing all the farm loans up to Rs 99,999. A whopping Rs 5,809.78 crore was transferred to nine lakh accounts of farmers. This will be a moment to cherish in the history of Independent India as a large number of farmers could clear their debts. This transaction not only showcases that the promises made by the BRS are kept but also reinforces Chief Minister KCR’s ‘farmer first’ approach. Farmers never had to wait in queue or rely on middlemen to get the money be it a farm loan waiver or Rythu Bandhu or Rythu Bima.”
KTR said that Telangana is the only state in the country that has waived farmers’ loans on such a large scale for a second time.
