Loan waiver fiasco: BRS to organise State-wide protests on August 22

The protests will be held in mandal and constituency headquarters across Telangana to pressurise the State government into fulfilling its loan waiver promises.

Hyderabad: The Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) will hold a State-wide protest on August 22, demanding implementation of an unconditional crop loan waiver for all farmers. The protests will be held in mandal and constituency headquarters across Telangana to pressurise the State government into fulfilling its loan waiver promises.

In a statement, BRS working president KT Rama Rao said the Congress government imposed unnecessary conditions on the crop loan waiver process to reduce its expenditure and failed to deliver its promise for complete farm loan waiver upto Rs 2 lakh for all farmers. As the main opposition party, the BRS would continue to fight for the rights of farmers until the loan waiver was implemented without any conditions.

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In a scathing attack on Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy, Rama Rao pointed out that the Chief Minister initially promised to waive farmers’ loans by December 9, only to later push the deadline to August 15. He pointed out the contradictory statements of the Chief Minister and his Cabinet colleagues, coupled with the delay leading to widespread anxiety and distress among farmers across the State.

“While the Chief Minister claims that loans up to Rs 2 lakh have been waived for all farmers, Ministers say the loan waiver process is still going on. This contradictory statements have left farmers confused,” he said.

The BRS working president said before the elections, the Congress party had promised a loan waiver of up to Rs.2 lakh for every farmer. But after coming to power, the party failed to deliver its promise and kept misleading people. He said although the Chief Minister announced Rs.40,000 crore for the farm loan waiver initially, only Rs.31,000 crore were sanctioned by the State Cabinet, and a mere Rs.26,000 crore was allocated in the budget. Of this, less than Rs.18,000 crore have been spent, leaving many farmers without the relief they were promised.

“Rather than allaying fears of farmers and standing by them, the Chief Minister and the Ministers are acting irresponsibly by making contradictory statements. They also released funds far lesser than promised, putting the fate of many farmers in jeopardy. Not even 40 per cent farmers have benefited from the loan waiver so far,” he added.

Rama Rao stated that lakhs of farmers were being forced to run from pillar to post in different government offices every day to find why they were being denied the loan waiver. He called on the State government to immediately waive loans up to Rs 2 lakh for each farmer without imposing any unnecessary conditions. He demanded that the government issue a statement to clear the concerns of farmers.