Uttam: Clear loan waiver amount immediately
Nalgonda MP and former Telangana Pradesh Congress Committee (TPCC) president N. Uttam Kumar Reddy came down heavily upon the Telangana Rashtra Samiti (TRS) government for not honouring the promise of waiving crop loans up to `1 lakh. He said banks had reportedly withheld the accounts of over 31 lakh farmers across the state for non-payment of loan dues.
Addressing a series of meetings in different villages in Nalgonda Lok Sabha constituency, along with TPCC working president J. Geeta Reddy on the fourth day of the Rachabanda on Tuesday, Uttam Kumar Reddy slammed Chief Minister K. Chandrashekar Rao for not honouring the promise of waiving crop loans up to ‘1 lakh even after completing more than three years in power in the second term.
Uttam Kumar Reddy said over 31 lakh farmers would not be eligible to apply for fresh crop loans as the RBI rules mandated clearance of crop loans in three seasons from the time of credit off-take to be eligible for renewal of accounts. He also pointed out that though `20,164.20 crore was allocated in annual budgets since 2018 for waiver of crop loans, the TRS government released only `1,171.38 crore in two installments.
The Congress MP demanded that the state government immediately credit `18,000 crore to the bank accounts of over 31 lakh farmers to ensure the renewal of their crop loans. Further, he said that the non-clearance of crop loan waiver amount in a single take deprived the farmers of benefiting from the Rythu Bandhu and PM Kisan Samman Nidhi Yojana schemes.
Addressing different meetings, former minister J. Geetha Reddy said the Warangal Declaration announced by AICC leader Rahul Gandhi offered a comprehensive solution to all the problems being faced by the farming community. She said the waiver of crop loans up to `2 lakh in a single take would provide immediate relief to lakhs of farmers. With no debts or bad loans, the financial assistance of `15,000 per annum would directly reach the farmers towards input cost. Further, the farmers would have a guarantee that the entire produce would be procured at a better MSP by the government. She said the promises made in the Warangal Declaration would revolutionise the farming sector.