Farm loans: New body to be set up

Hyderabad: The AP government has decided to set up a “Farmers Empower Corporation” and chief secretary I.Y.R. Krishna Rao signed the file on Monday. The state government will set up this corporation with a Rs 7,000 crore corpus fund. The government will pay the banks farm loans on behalf of the farmers through this corporation.

AP Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu on Monday held discussions for over five hours with bank officials at his camp office here. Mr Naidu explained the government’s stand on the  waiver of farm loans and the state’s financial position and asked the banks to give fresh loans to the farmers. Mr Naidu also told them about the proposed corporation. The bankers told Mr Naidu that the bankers’ sub-committee will discuss the proposals of the state government and take a decision.

After the discussions, Telugu Desam MP and AP state resources mobilisation committee president Y.S. Chowdary expressed confidence that the bankers will accept the government’s  proposals He said that the farmers will get fresh loans from October, and the corporation will be set up within three days. He said the issue is also being discussed with the Reserve Bank of India.

He said that they are discussing with Reserve Bank of India also about this issue. He said that the Farmers empower Corporation will work for the welfare of the farmers and to solve their problems in future. After the bankers have taken a decision on the proposals of the state government they will work out the modalities on payment of farm loans. He said if the government will pay Rs 1.5 lakh for each family 96 % farmers will cover.