Uttam demands allocations to clear all pending dues in next budget

Hyderabad: Congress MP N. Uttam Kumar Reddy demanded that the state government allocate Rs 27,270 crore in the forthcoming Budget for clearing pending arrears pertaining to farm loan waiver, self-help groups (SHG) of women and fee reimbursement.

In an open letter to Chief Minister K. Chandrashekar Rao on Saturday, Reddy said that long pending dues were to the tune of Rs 20,000 crore for farm loan waiver, Rs 4,000 crore for women SHGs and Rs 3,270 crore towards fee reimbursement.

"Since this will be the last budget of your government before the next Assembly elections, we demand that you make sufficient allocations so as to clear all pending dues," he stated.

Reddy said that the promise of waiver of agricultural loans up to Rs 1 lakh has been pending since the 2018 Assembly elections.

"Bank accounts of lakhs of farmers have been placed under non-performing assets," he pointed out.

"The state government owes Rs 3,270 crore to private colleges towards fee reimbursement of over 15 lakh students from nearly 3,600 junior, engineering, degree, pharmacy and other professional and non-professional colleges," he added.