Adilabad: Farmers up in arms against State govt over crop loan waiver

Farmers staged dharna blocking roads and raised slogans against the State government for not extending the waiver to them. They said that they were forced to roam around banks to get the scheme. Due to the protest, traffic came to a standstill for a while.

Adilabad: Farmers staged protests regretting that their crop loans were not waived off in different parts of erstwhile Adilabad district on Tuesday.

Farmers staged dharna on a road blocking traffic for a while at Malegaon village in Kubheer mandal, Pembi, Lokeshwaram, Thamsi and Khanapur mandal headquarters. They raised slogans against the State government for not extending the waiver to them. They said that they were forced to roam around banks to get the scheme. Due to the protest, traffic came to a standstill for a while.

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Similarly, farmers staged a rasta-roko on NH 44 in Echoda, Boath and Gudihathnoor mandal centres. They raised slogans against the government and Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy. They wanted the government to waive their loans without imposing any conditions.

About 1,500 farmers laid siege to a bank in Adilabad district headquarters. Adilabad MLA Payal Shankar extended solidarity to the farmers. Shankar slammed the government for failing to extend the initiative to all the farmers.

The agitating farmers declared that they would intensify stir against the government if it did not respond to their protests. They regretted that a major chunk of farmers still did not get the scheme. They stated that the farmers were left with no option but to rely on private money lenders who charge exorbitant rates of interest.

Meanwhile, farmers from Kawal, Kamanpalli, Bangaru Thanda, Devuniguda and many other villages staged a rasta-roko programme in Jannaram mandal centres, demanding the government to immediately waive their crop loans off. They criticised the government for delaying waiving off their loans.