BRS opens grievance cell on loan waiver issues for farmers
Led by former Agriculture Minister S. Niranjan Reddy, the BRS grievance cell will handle complaints from farmers with crop loans up to Rs 1.5 lakh who have not received loan waivers. Farmers can submit details of their loans and reasons for waiver denial via WhatsApp at 83748 52619, which will be monitored daily by two staff members.
Hyderabad: Taking a stand for farmers who have not received their promised crop loan waivers, the BRS opened a grievance cell at Telangana Bhavan, asking farmers to report their complaints. Led by former Agriculture Minister S Niranjan Reddy, the BRS grievance cell will receive complaints from farmers had crop loans upto Rs 1.5 lakh but did not get them waived.
Farmers can send details about their crop loans and reasons for denial of the loan waiver on a WhatsApp number (83748 52619), which will be monitored by two personnel every day.
Speaking to mediapersons at Telangana Bhavan on Monday, Niranjan Reddy urged farmers to share specific details, including the survey number, village, and bank from which the loan was taken. He emphasized the importance of including reasons why the loan was not waived and any responses from authorities.
“We will compile these details and submit them to the State government to seek necessary action for loan waiver. If there is no response, we will expose the false claims of the government before the people of the State,” he said.
The former Minister criticised the Congress government for deceiving farmers with false promises of crop loan waivers. He pointed out the discrepancies between the number of farmers eligible for loan waivers and those who had actually received them. Pointing out that the previous BRS government had waived off crop loans upto Rs 1 lakh for around 39 lakh farmers, he said the number increased to nearly 45 lakh farmers eligible for waiver under the current Congress regime. However, he said the Congress government claimed to have waived off loans of only 16 lakh farmers so far.
“What about the remaining farmers who obtained loans upto Rs 2 lakh?” he asked, pointing out that the Congress came to power by promising to waive off crop loans upto Rs 2 lakh, but was now imposing conditions.
Calling for transparency and accountability in the loan waiver process, Niranjan Reddy said the Congress had initially claimed to spend Rs.40,000 crore for the crop loan waiver and then reduced it to Rs.31,000 crore, and in the end truncated it to Rs.25,000 crore in the State budget for the current financial year. He slammed the government for claiming that the BRS pushed the State into debts even while spending nearly Rs.200 crore for advertisements on the crop loan waiver to make false claims. He also questioned the State government’s hesitation in releasing the list of district-wise beneficiaries under the scheme.
