Hyderabad: Rural areas wore a festive look on Thursday after Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy formally launched the scheme to waive crop loans of up to Rs.2 lakh each.
As soon as the Chief Minister transferred over Rs.6,000 crore to bank accounts of over 11.5 lakh farmers to clear their crop loans up to Rs.1 lakh each at 4 pm on Thursday, farmers across Telangana burst into celebrations.
They expressed their joy by bursting crackers, distributing sweets in villages and mandals. They performed 'ksheera abhishekam' (anointing with milk) to the portraits of Revanth Reddy to express their gratitude to him unlike the previous BRS government which implemented crop loan waiver in instalments over five years.
They recalled that the shoddy implementation of crop loan waiver by the BRS government resulted in huge debt burden for them as the amount released in phases for years was not sufficient even to pay the interest. They said the banks utilised the loan waiver amount released by BRS governments towards interest payment and they were forced to pay principal amount.
Farmers gathered at Rythu Vedikas across the state in villages to celebrate the occasion. Ministers, Congress MLAs, MLCs, MPs and party leaders joined the celebrations in their respective districts and constituencies.
The farmers interacted with Revanth Reddy directly from Rythu Vedikas through video conferencing and expressed their joy. They told the Chief Minister that they will always remain indebted to him and the Congress government for waiving their loans within seven months of coming to power.
As many as 11,50,193 farmers received crop loan waiver amounting to Rs 6,098.93 crore on Thursday. The highest number of farmers, who received the benefit, were from Nalgonda district, as 83,124 farmers received Rs 454.49 crore. Andhole remained the Assembly constituency where the highest number of farmers received the benefit, with about 20,216 farmers receiving Rs 107.83 crore for the loan waiver.
