TS crop loan waiver faulty: BJP

The BJP has accused the Telangana Rashtra Samiti government of not releasing arrears of crop loan waiver scheme even after four years.

The party demanded waiver of crop loans which were re-scheduled in Undivided AP in 201314 due to drought in Adilabad, Khammam, Ranga Reddy and Medak districts. The BJP alleges that CM Chandrasekhar Rao has been misleading the Assembly and farmers that the government has completed crop loan waiver scheme with `17,500 crore, but the fact is that it is still in arrears in several districts due to which bankers have withheld passbooks of farmers and are not issuing fresh loans.

BJP MLAs G. Kishan Reddy, C. Ramachandra Reddy and party leaders met Chief Secretary S.K. Joshi in the Secretariat on Wednesday and complained about the flawed crop loan scheme.

“The government took four years to pay `17,000 crore arrears in four instalments. With this, bankers have adjusted the amount towards payment of interest for four year. Farmers continue to owe the principal amount. If the government’s claim of clearing all the crop loan arrears is correct, it should explain why the passbooks of farmers are still withheld by banks,” Mr Kishan Reddy said.

He alleged that the CM continue to mislead the Assembly on the crop loan waiver. “The CM and ministers make statements on the floor of the House that crop loan waiver is complete and ask Opposition parties to submit data of farmers, if any, whose loans have not been cleared. We submitted details to government with all proofs. But there has been no response from the government,”Mr Reddy said.