Swear on son, will waive off loans: H D Kumaraswamy

Hubballi: Chief Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy on Friday promised to waive off all loans of farmers at Bagalkote near here.

In an emotional speech after symbolically distributing debt-free certificates to 30 farmers, he said: “I swear on my son Nikhil that I will waive off all loans taken by farmers.” 

Surprised by his announcement, the farmers at the function raised slogans in favour of the Chief Minister. 

The former chief minister and head of the coalition’s coordination committee, Siddaramaiah, was conspicuous by his absence though he was in Bagalkot district and was invited to the Chief Minister’s function.

Stating that waiving off farm loans was getting delayed because of the efforts to prevent middlemen from taking undue benefits of the scheme, Mr Kumaraswamy made it clear that his government was not waiving off farm loans by diverting funds from other departments.

“When I was campaigning during the Assembly elections, I had promised farmers that I will waive off their farm loans. Now, with the help of the Congress party I am fulfilling the promise. It is one of the courageous decisions taken by the coalition government for the welfare of farmers,” Mr Kumaraswamy said. 

Stating that around 21.69 lakh farmers had taken crop loans amounting to Rs 36,041 crore from nationalised and cooperative banks, he said that his government had decided to waive off the loans in four phases in five years. He said that the coalition government would settle the loans of farmers up to Rs 2 lakh in the coming Budget.