Committed to fully implement crop loan waiver, says Telangana government
Hyderabad, Aug 19 : Amid allegations by the opposition parties in Telangana that it betrayed farmers on crop loan waiver, the Congress government on Monday made it clear that loans of up to Rs 2 lakh of every eligible farmer will be waived.
Admitting that loans of some farmers could not be waived off due to technical reasons, the state government said that the process for addressing technical issues is on.
Irrigation Minister Uttam Kumar Reddy told media persons that the government remains committed to waiving crop loans of up to Rs 2 lakh of every eligible farmer. He claimed that the crop loan scheme implemented in Telangana is unprecedented in the country and said the BJP had never spoken about farm loan waiver since 2014.
Though the party was in power for 10 years, it has done nothing to waive crop loans, he said.
Uttam Kumar Reddy alleged that the opposition parties were running false propaganda to draw political mileage. Explaining why crop loans of some farmers could not be waived, he said the Aadhaar numbers of 1.20 lakh farmers were found incorrect. He said all mandal agriculture officers have been directed to contact all these farmers and get their Aadhaar details. Aadhaar and loan account numbers did not match in respect of 1.61 lakh farmers.
The minister said efforts were on to verify their details and loans of all eligible will be waived off.
There were also errors in the records of 1.50 lakh farmers sent by bank officials and the banks have been told to rectify the same.
Loans of 4.83 lakh farmers could not be waived as they did not have ration cards. He, however, gave the assurance that all the eligible farmers will be identified and their loans will be waived.
Uttam Kumar Reddy said eight lakh farmers have loans of more than Rs 2 lakh each. If these farmers pay the difference, the government will waive Rs 2 lakh.
The government came out with the details a day after Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) Working President K. T. Rama Rao wrote a letter to Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi and Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge on the alleged betrayal by the Congress government in Telangana regarding the crop loan waiver.
Rama Rao said while the Congress government initiated the loan waiver process, it has fallen short of its commitments. "A significant number of farmers across Telangana have been excluded from the scheme, despite meeting all eligibility criteria. The government, which initially announced a waiver of loans up to Rs 2 lakh, has severely limited the number of beneficiaries," reads the letter.
The BRS leader mentioned that data from the State Level Bankers’ Committee (SLBC) reveals the gravity of the situation. Banks disbursed Rs 49,500 crore in crop loans to farmers during the financial year 2023-24, but only Rs 17,933 crore has been waived, covering just 22.37 lakh farmers. "To put this in perspective, the BRS government waived crop loans up to Rs one lakh, amounting to Rs 19,198 crore for 36.68 lakh farmers. Despite the Congress party's promise to waive loans up to Rs 2 lakh, the number of beneficiaries surprisingly decreased by 14.31 lakh. In fact, the number of beneficiaries should have increased to 47 lakh farmers, but it instead decreased to 22.37 lakh farmers," the BRS leader wrote.