Belagavi: Assuring farmers in all drought-hit areas of the state that the government would waive their loans if the Centre took an initiative to write off at least 50 per cent of the loans availed by nationalised banks, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah said in Vijayapura that of the 70 lakh farmers who availed loans in the state, 50 lakh got it from nationalised banks.
After the launch of various developmental schemes at Muddebihal, near Vijayapura on Wednesday, the CM said, farmers would not be benefitted at all by waiver of loans by the state government alone as a mere 20 lakh farmers got loans from cooperative institutions in the state over which the government had control. Already, the state government had made an offer to the Centre to write off farmer loans as much as possible, he stated.
Releasing the data, the CM said, he did not get any positive response either from the Centre or the state's Members of Parliament even after the state government repeatedly appealed to them for help. To help the state overcome drought which ravaged most parts making lives of farmers miserable, the Centre should quickly initiate drought-relief measures, he added.
Recently, the CM had stated at a programme in Belagavi that the PM was unwilling to give an appointment to discuss with him the worsening drought prevailing in the state. Including Mallikarjun Kharge, several Congress leaders also have apprised the PM on the state's drought situation recently.
Commenting on an organisation launched by BJP leader K S Eshwarappa parallel to CM's Ahinda, he wondered how a communal outfit like BJP could ever work for the welfare of backward classes and minorities. The one launched by BJP was not Ahinda but only ‘Hinda’ which would never be able to ensure equality to all classes of society, he said adding that the BJP would only divide society and never uplift the backward classes.
