Crop loan waiver: CM Revanth Reddy says ration card only for identification of farmer’s family
During meeting with Collectors at the Secretariat, the Chief Minister said the ration card would be used only to determine a farmer’s family.
Hyderabad: A day after guidelines issued for the crop loan waiver triggered a major backlash over the restrictive conditions for beneficiaries, Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy was on Tuesday forced to come out with clarifications to douse the fire and to assure that farmers without ration cards too would be eligible for the waiver.
With one of the most widely raised contentions being over the ration card included as one of the criteria, the Chief Minister said loans taking on the land passbook would be eligible for the Rs.2 lakh waiver and that the ration card would be used only to determine a farmer’s family.
Speaking at the Collectors’ conference here, the Chief Minister said there were 90 lakh ration cards in the State, out which 70 lakh were farmers who secured loans. About 6.36 lakh farmers did not possess ration cards and they would also be eligible for the loan waiver, he said.
“Just because farmers do not posses ration cards, all measures will be taken to ensure that injustice is not meted out to such farmers,” Revanth Reddy said, adding that by Thursday evening, the waived amount would be deposited into the bank accounts of farmers who had taken loans up to Rs.1 lakh. The same day, celebrations would be conducted with farmers at Rythu Vedikas. Ministers, MLAs, elected public representatives would be participating in these celebrations, he said.“The crop loan waiver is a prestigious programme for the State government and Collectors should accord special attention towards this. Not a single farmer should suffer due to any negligence,” Revanth Reddy said, also adding that stern action should be initiated against companies involved in manufacture of spurious seeds.
The Chief Minister further said a meeting would be conducted with bankers and Collectors at 11 am on Thursday. Strict instructions have been issued to the banks to ensure that the crop loan waiver amounts were not used for other purposes. If the bankers deposit the amount in other accounts, stern action would be initiated against them, he said.The Chief Minister further said one senior official would be deployed covering two districts to monitor the crop loan waiver at the Secretariat. If the Collectors have any technical doubts, they could consult the officials, he added.
Regarding the law and order situation, the Chief Minister directed that right from the DGP to constable, every police officer should be involved in physical policing. Peace committees should be constituted in every police station limits and friendly policing should be adopted with people but not with criminals, he stressed.
