Rs 1L crop loan waiver from today: KCR

 Hyderabad: Chief Minister K. Chandrashekar Rao on Wednesday, a day ahead of the Monsoon Session of the state’s Houses, announced the implementation of a rs 1 lakh crop waiver scheme from Thursday, keeping a promise made in the run-up to the 2018 Assembly polls.

The Rs 1-lakh waiver was partially implemented over the past five years due to a fund crunch.

Chandrashekar Rao directed officials to start the process of releasing funds to banks for the loan waivers starting Thursday, setting a deadline of September 15 for the completion of the implementation of the scheme.

According to a press release issued by the Chief Minister’s Office on  Wednesday, the Chief Minister directed finance department officials to arrange Rs 19,000 crore required to waive off crop loans of all eligible farmers.

The move comes after the Chief Minister held a meeting with finance minister T. Harish Rao and other senior officials to review the status of crop loan waivers at Pragathi Bhavan.

Chandrashekar Rao said that the economic slowdown caused by the Centre’s decision on demonetisation — compounded by the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on the state’s economy and a vindicative attitude adopted by the Centre towards the state by imposing restrictions on loans and funds — contributed to the state’s fiscal deficit, causing a delay in the implementation of the farm loan waiver scheme.

Chandrashekar Rao said, “As promised by me, the government is implementing the farm loan waiver scheme. Unforeseen troubles like Covid, Centre’s unilateral decision to cut FRBM borrowing limits, and indifference towards Telangana in the release of funds, delayed the process for the completion of the farm loan waiver scheme.”

“The state government is sincerely implementing the schemes like Rythu Bandhu, Rythu Bima, free electricity and irrigation to the farmers.

Notwithstanding the problems faced by the state, the government will not neglect the welfare of the farmers. Further, the government initiated a big programme of setting up food processing units for agricultural development. Thus, there is no need to rest until the farmers are empowered and they are financially uplifted,” Chandrashekar Rao said.

The Chief Minister gave clear instructions to officials to complete the farmer loan waiver scheme by September 15, on the lines of Rythu Bandhu's direct benefit transfer to farmers’ bank accounts, in a phased manner.