Bhatti’s contradictory statements on loan waiver confuse party and public

Deputy Chief Minister Mallu Bhatti Vikramarka first claimed to to have waived off farm loans with Rs.31,000 crore, later, he said the government had released Rs.18,000 crore for the crop loan waiver to the banks

Hyderabad: Deputy Chief Minister Mallu Bhatti Vikramarka on Tuesday landed himself in soup with his contradictory statements over the crop loan waiver, that too within a span of a few hours.

The series of conflicting statements began when Bhatti Vikramarka claimed to have waived off farm loans with Rs.31,000 crore at the birth anniversary celebrations of former Prime Minister, the late Rajiv Gandhi, in Hyderabad.

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Hours later, at the State Level Bankers Committee (SLBC) meeting held at Praja Bhavan, the Deputy Chief Minister said the government had released Rs.18,000 crore for the crop loan waiver to the banks. He urged the bankers to expedite the disbursement of the loan waiver amount into the accounts of the beneficiary farmers and to avoid any further delay.

“Even a one week delay in loan waiver will not have the desired benefit,” he said.

Addressing the bankers, Bhatti Vikramarka said the State government was giving equal priority to agriculture sector and also to industrial sector, urging the bankers to provide required loans to meet the annual targets in each sector. In the first quarter of the financial year of 2024-25, the banks achieved around 40.62 per cent of annual credit plan for priority sectors. The cash reserve ratio of the State also improved to 127.29 per cent in the first quarter itself, he said.

Interestingly, Irrigation Minister N Uttam Kumar Reddy had said on Monday that over 17 lakh farmers were yet to get the loan waiver due to multiple technical issues.