Vijayawada: The state government is not in a position to waive loans as its request to the Centre for Rs 2,900 crore share from the Central pool is still pending. If the money is not released, the government may not be able to credit the waiver amount into the accounts of farmers. This will prevent farmers from getting fresh loans from January. The state had taken funds from the Centre in August and November, which were adjusted towards Dwcra loans and payments to contractors.
Planning Commission deputy chairman C. Kutumba Rao said that Rs 1,600 crore had been released to the banks towards the third installment of loan waiver. Confirming this, agriculture minister Somireddy Chandramohan Reddy said that Rs 2,000 crore fund were yet to be released to the banks and hoped it would be done soon. Dr Kutumba Rao said that the budgetary allocation for the loan waiver was planned well in advance and the question of delay or non-responsive attitude of the Centre over the release of state’s share did not arise.
“Bank loans for Kharif have been given by the end of September, and the process of Rabi loaning will be completed by the end of December,” Dr Kutumba Rao explained. He stated that the shifting of treasury operations from Hyderabad to Amaravati had hampered the process of loan waiver to some extent. “Some technical snag is being addressed by the SBI technical personnel,” Dr Kutumba Rao said. Nine out of 10 complaints were being reported from SBI.
