Farm loans upto Rs 99,999 to be cleared in next 45 days; CM KCR releases Rs 5,809.78 crore
Special Chief Secretary for Finance K Ramakrishna Rao was instructed to release Rs.5,809.78 crore for the benefit of 9,02,843 farmers in the State
Hyderabad: In a major relief to thousands of small and marginal farmers in the State, Chief Minister K Chandrashekhar Rao on Monday announced that farm loans upto Rs.99,999 would be cleared within the next 45 days in tune with his electoral commitment to waive farm loans of up to Rs.1 lakh.
Accordingly, Special Chief Secretary for Finance K Ramakrishna Rao released Rs.5809.78 crore for the benefit of 9,02,843 farmers.
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The amount will be transferred directly into loan accounts of farmers. With the latest decision, farm loans up to Rs.99,999, amounting to Rs.7753.43 crore, of 16,66,899 farmers will be cleared.
During its previous term between 2014 and 2018, the BRS government waived crop loans upto Rs 1 lakh through disbursement of Rs.16,144 crore benefiting around 35.32 lakh farmers in the State.
During the 2018 Assembly elections, Chandrashekhar Rao had promised to implement a crop loan waiver scheme for loans upto Rs 1 lakh in a phased manner. Accordingly, he directed officials to formulate a comprehensive action for implementing the waiver. As the process was nearing completion, the implementation was delayed by external factors like the Covid-19 pandemic and subsequent lockdown as well as the adverse impact of demonetisation.
Notwithstanding the financial challenges, the Chief Minister decided to implement his electoral promise before going to the polls later this year. The process, initiated after the Chief Minister’s review and directive on August 2, has been expedited, with Finance Minister T Harish Rao and Special Chief Secretary Ramakrishna Rao leading a 45-day action plan to ensure the loan waiver process is efficiently executed.
Accordingly, disbursement of funds commenced on August 3 and the State government released Rs.1,943.64 crore to the banks benefiting 7,19,488 farmers who have loans of less than Rs.50,000. The amount was adjusted in accounts of farmers towards the waiver scheme. After taking stock of the latest situation on Monday, the Chief Minister gave fresh instructions for completing disbursement of crop loans upto Rs 99,999 within the stipulated period.
The State government has been implementing farmer-friendly policies since the formation of Telangana State. Apart from completing construction of the mammoth Kaleshwaram Lift Irrigation Scheme, the State government revived and rejuvenated over 35,000 tanks under Mission Kakatiya.
Apart from initiatives like timely supply of seeds, fertilisers and also using the Preventive Detention Act to curb spurious seeds and fertilisers, the Telangana government has been proactive in creating better marketing facilities and has also procured the entire paddy produced by local farmers.
Further, the State government has been effectively implementing Rythu Bandhu, Rythu Bima and uninterrupted free power to the agriculture sector. In the last 11 editions, around Rs.71,552 crore were deposited into the bank accounts of over 65 lakh farmers under the Rythu Bandhu scheme.
Commencing from this Vanakalam (Kharif) season, around 1.51 lakh tribal farmers cultivating about 4.06 lakh acres of forest land are also benefiting under the scheme. The State government has already released Rs 200 crore into their bank accounts.
With effective implementation of the Rythu Bima scheme, families of about 1.08 lakh farmers received Rs.5,402.55 crore towards insurance claim of Rs.5 lakh each. Similarly, the State government spent Rs.96,288 crore in the last nine years to ensure uninterrupted and free quality power supply to about 27.49 lakh agriculture connections in the State. Another Rs 32,700 crore was spent to improve the power distribution infrastructure.
