Farmers stage protest over Rs 2 lakh crop loan waiver in Khammam

The farmers took out a protest rally to the collectorate and staged rasta-roko bringing vehicular flow to a standstill for a while.

Khammam: A group of farmers have staged a rasta-roko in front of the district collectorate on Khammam-Kothagudem road here on Saturday over haphazard implementation of crop loan waiver.

The farmers took out a protest rally to the collectorate and staged rasta-roko bringing vehicular flow to a standstill for a while. Earlier, the farmers also visited their respective banks and had heated arguments with officials over the crop loan waiver issue.

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Speaking to the media, the farmers complained that the banking officials told them to clear the loan amount above Rs 2 lakh, to avail the loan waiver. A farmer said he took Rs 2.5 lakh crop loan from different banks and now he was forced to pay Rs 50, 000 to avail the loan.

He found fault with Agriculture Minister Thummala Nageswara Rao’s statement that the farmers have to pay the loan above Rs 2 lakh to get the loan waiver. Imposing such a condition was wrong and the government must waive Rs 2 lakh loan unconditionally, he said adding that the banking and agriculture officials do not have information when Rs 2 loan would be waived.

The farmers complained that the majority of farmers were still to get their loans waived and challenged the minister Nageswara Rao to visit the villages to find out the situation at ground level. The Congress government which failed to give Rythu Bandhu should at least implement loan waiver in a transparent manner, they added.