Congress disregard for farmers: 475 suicides in nine months, says Harish Rao

Harish Rao said Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy had set different deadlines for implementing the crop loan waiver, but implemented it only partially at the cost of skipping the Rythu Bharosa investment support for the ongoing Vaanakalam (Kharif) season.

Hyderabad: Former minister and senior BRS MLA T Harish Rao on Sunday came up with startling figures on farmer suicides in the State, which he attributed to the inefficiency of the Congress government to address woes of farmers and implement a complete crop loan waiver. This, he said, had led to a shocking 475 suicides in just nine months.

Speaking to mediapersons at Telangana Bhavan here, Harish Rao said Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy had set different deadlines for implementing the crop loan waiver, but implemented it only partially at the cost of skipping the Rythu Bharosa investment support for the ongoing Vaanakalam (Kharif) season.

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“Revanth Reddy promised to waive off all crop loans upto Rs 2 lakh, but is now giving 31 different excuses to avoid implementing complete loan waiver. Though he assured that ration cards would not be linked with crop loan waiver, many farmers are being denied benefits on the basis of ration card itself,” he said.

The former Minister cited the demise of Surender Reddy, a farmer who recently died by suicide in front of the Agriculture department office in Medchal. Surender Reddy had mentioned in his suicide note that he was ending his life as he was denied the waiver just because both his mother and himself were named on the same ration card and their combined crop loan was more than Rs.2 lakh.

“The bank manager insisted that Surender Reddy can get the waiver only if he repays the excess amount beyond Rs.2 lakh. What prevents the State government to pay loan upto Rs.2 lakh as promised and let the farmer bother about the rest, rather than denying him/her the benefit with meagre excuses. This is not suicide, but murder by the Congress government,” he said, citing numerous other cases where farmers were denied the waiver citing one reason or the other.

Harish Rao said the loan waiver scheme was mired in confusion and mismanagement. Many families were denied the waiver due to bureaucratic hurdles, with some being told they were ineligible because of issues as trivial as not having an Aadhaar card for deceased family members. Unmarried farmers were being asked to get the Aadhaar cards of their wives to get loans waived, he said, adding that the Congress government also brought down allocations for the waiver from Rs.49,000 crore to Rs.26,000 crore in the State budget and spent only around Rs.17,000 crore so far. Only 20 lakh farmers benefited from the waiver, while another 21-22 lakh farmers were denied the benefit.

The BRS MLA demanded Revanth Reddy to apologise to farmers of Telangana and ensure immediate waiver of all outstanding crop loans. The BRS would continue to fight for the rights of farmers, he said, vowing to bring the issue to the attention of both the Governor and the Centre.

He said the BRS grievance cell received over 1.32 lakh complaints from farmers over the waiver. “The list of such farmers along with their issues, will be submitted to the Governor. Until the issues are brought to a logical conclusion, the party will continue to fight on behalf of farmers,” he added.