After UP largesse, Haryana farmers seek loan waiver
It is good that the BJP government in UP is waiving loans of farmers, but in Haryana the banks are putting up posters carrying pictures of defaulting farmers, who could not repay their loans. GURNAM SINGH CHADUNI, Haryana BKU president
KARNAL: With the newly-formed BJP government in Uttar Pradesh announcing to waive off agricultural loans up to Rs 1 lakh of small and marginal farmers, a similar demand is now being raised in Haryana, which is also ruled by the saffron party.
Having backing of the opposition parties, farmer leaders in Haryana are saying that the Manohar Lal Khattar government should also learn from the neighboring states of Uttar Pradesh and Punjab, where new governments are taking steps to lessen the burden of the farming community, pointing out that Haryana’s financial condition is much better than the neighboring states.
“It is good that the BJP government in UP is waiving off loans of farmers, but in Haryana the banks are putting up posters carrying pictures of defaulting farmers, who could not repay their loans,” said Bhartiya Kisan Union (BKU) Haryana president Gurnam Singh Chaduni.
“Moreover, farmers of Haryana are being harassed and being forced to pay for the crop insurance scheme. But now the BKU has started a campaign and the fight will continue till the government waives off all pending loans of about Rs 60,000 crore of farmers of Haryana,” he added.
Sources said out of the total 16 lakh farming families in the state, about 15 lakh have taken loans from cooperative, nationalised and private banks. Under the loan waiver announced by the Congress-led UPA government in 2008, Rs 831.22 crore had been waived off of 2.61 lakh small and marginal farmers of the state and a relief of Rs 161.80 crore had been given to 91,582 other farmers.
But after 9 years of the loan waiver, the amount of the pending loans, from the centralised and private banks has increased manifold and the state now has about 6 lakh bank defaulters.
However, sources said the state government-run cooperative banks had made several efforts to recover pending loans by announcing lucrative settlement schemes, printing of photographs of defaulters in newspapers and issuing the mandatory no-dues certificates in the elections of panchayati raj institutions.
The amount of pending loans of cooperative banks has reportedly increased to over Rs 4,000 crore from Rs 1,400 crore in 2015.
Managing director, Haryana cooperative banks, Satbir Sharma said, “As of now I am unable to provide the exact figures of the pending agriculture loans, but the efforts are being made for the recovery.”
Ratan Mann, a farmer leader, said, “We don’t know a single farme, who has not taken a loan from any bank or commission agents.” “The government should also conduct a study why the farmers of this small state are under a debt of about Rs 56,000 crore.
The only reason behind this is that the agriculture is no more profitable,” he added. Sources said the farmer unions of the state are also planning a statewide campaign to press for the demand for a loan waiver.
“On August 15, we will declare Haryana farmers debtfree and nobody will repay the pending loans, whether the government announces any relief or not,” Mann told HT.
Former Haryana chief minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda has also demanded that the BJP should government in Haryana should announce a loan waiver for the farmers of the state.
“After UP, the BJP also provide relief to the debt-ridden farmers of Haryana”, Hooda said.