Bengaluru: A month after Chief Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy announced waiver of farm loans of a whopping Rs 45,000 crores, the cabinet took the first step at writing off loans borrowed from the cooperation sector, a move which would benefit about 22 lakh farmers, on Thursday. Today's decision would be applicable to loans borrowed till July 10 this year and amount to Rs 9,448 crores.
A decision on waiver of loans released by public sector banks would be taken at the next meeting of the cabinet, Mr Kumaraswamy told the media, adding that a decision was also taken to scrap the limit of waiver of Rs one lakh for each family. The government would be in a position to implement the loan waiver scheme as there was no dearth of funds, he added. When asked about questions raised by the Opposition BJP on government's inability to write off loans released by public sector banks, the Chief Minister accused leaders of BJP with trying to influence the top brass in New Delhi to stall the loan waiver scheme, besides fanning rumours that his government would not succeed in implementation of the scheme.
Mr Kumaraswamy said he would announce more good news on Independence Day or Ganesha Chathurthi but declined to disclose details on grounds that it would require approval of the cabinet. "I don't know if I can make the people happy or not. I have to make BJP (leaders) happy," he remarked sarcastically.
MEKEDATU: When asked about Mekedatu reservoir project and suggestions made by Union Minister Mr Nitin Gadkari, Mr Kumaraswamy said the state government has requested Mr Gadkari to convene a meeting of ministers of riparian states.
“I am writing a letter to all ministers of Tamil Nadu on this issue. In view of the downpour in Kerala and Kodagu, 70000 cusecs of water from Kabini and 50000 cusecs of water from KRS will be released from tomorrow. We will fulfill the quota obligations listed till April 2019 by the end of this month. In such circumstances, a storage reservoir at Mekedatu will help Tamil Nadu more than Karnataka, or the excess water will flow into the sea. We will explain this point to them (ministers of Tamil Nadu)," he added.
‘Nijaheli Kumaranna, saala yavaga manna maadthira?’
Even as the state government announced the modalities for the first phase of the farm loan waiver on Thursday, the BJP stepped up its attack on Chief Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy for delaying the loan waiver with a series of tweets under the hashtag, ‘Nijaheli Kumaranna’ about his promise on the waiver. The Bharatiya Janata Party stated in the tweet that more than 75 days have passed since Mr Kumaraswamy took oath as CM but his pre poll promise of loan waiver had not become a reality, “Nijaheli Kumaranna, Saala yavaga manna maadthira?” (Let’s have the truth on farm loan waiver), the tweets said taking potshots at the CM.
“If you have waived farmer loans, why are farmers getting notices from banks to repay loans?” the BJP asked Mr Kumaraswamy while referring to notices issued to farmers asking them to repay the loans. Not the ones to take an affront to the CM lightly, the Janata Dal (Secular) leadership hit back tweeting, “Waiver of loans is not as easy as transporting Ballari iron ore to China illegally or taking bribes in cheque (a reference to the illegal mining scandal involving the Reddy brothers of Ballari). We are anxiously waiting for Achche din, it is still not visible, why can’t you wait for the loan waiver for a few more days?”
