Niranjan Reddy demands unconditional farm loan waiver

Speaking at a media conference at Telangana Bhavan on Wednesday, the former Agriculture Minister criticised the current guidelines on the loan waiver as defective and restrictive.

Hyderabad: Former Minister and senior BRS leader S Niranjan Reddy demanded that the State government implement the farm loan waiver without imposing restrictions and to implement the Rythu Bharosa scheme without delay to support farmers. He urged the government to adopt uniform criteria for the loan waiver and the Rythu Bharosa scheme, using pattadar passbooks as the standard.

Speaking at a media conference at Telangana Bhavan on Wednesday, the former Agriculture Minister criticised the current guidelines on the loan waiver as defective and restrictive. “Crop loans should be waived unconditionally,” he asserted. He said the government was reducing the number of eligible farmers through faulty guidelines, despite the Chief Minister’s claims of no restrictions. “They came to power with false promises and are now burdening farmers with interest and delays,” he added.

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Highlighting the disparity, Niranjan Reddy pointed out that while there were 60 lakh farmers with active bank accounts in the State, the State government was planning to waive off loans for only 11 lakh farmers. “What about the remaining 49 lakh farmers?” he asked, also finding fault with the use of ration cards as a criterion for loan waiver, pointing out that many farmers did not have them.

The BRS leader also condemned the diversion of funds meant for Rythu Bharosa to implement the crop loan waiver. He called on the government to prioritise unconditional loan waivers and the implementation of the Rythu Bharosa scheme to support and empower farmers. He demanded for immediate disbursal of Rythu Bharosa farm assistance to farmers who already initiated sowing operations for various crops in the State.

Niranjan Reddy noted that the previous BRS government had waived off Rs 29,000 crore in two terms without any restrictions and implemented various farmer-friendly schemes like Rythu Bandhu, Rythu Bima, and free irrigation water and power supply among others. He highlighted the increase in cultivated land and paddy production during the BRS regime.