Hyderabad: Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao is likely to take a decision on the much awaited crop loan waiver scheme in a week.
He has decided to convene a full-fledged Cabinet meeting in this regard in a week to discuss all the promises made by the TRS during elections, including waiver of crop loans up to Rs 1lakh, pensions to handicapped, two-bedroom housing scheme for weaker sections among others and take steps to implement the same in a phased manner.
If all goes well, Mr Rao will beat rival Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu in implementing the loan waiver scheme going by the way he is expediting holding parleys with ministers and officials.
Mr Rao held discussions with Chief Secretary Dr Rajiv Sharma and officials of the finance department and ascertained the likely burden on the exchequer in the implementation of crop loan scheme.
The government had initially estimated it to be about Rs 10,000 to Rs 12,000 crore towards loan waiver scheme if restricted to mere crop loans.
However, following protests from farmers, the government decided to include gold loans etc too to farmers and provide relief up to Rs 1lakh without any preconditions.
Mr Rao planned to convene an impromptu Cabinet meeting with available ministers at the Secretariat on Friday asking them to stay put in the Secretariat from 1 pm onwards.
Following the CM’s directive, many ministers including finance minister Etela Rajender, home minister Nayani Narasimha Reddy were confined to their chambers awaiting a word from the CM. However, Mr Rao changed his mind and held discussions with the chief secretary and other officials and decided to convene a full-fledged Cabinet meeting in a week.
Meanwhile, he has asked officials to work out modalities for implementation of the loan waiver scheme and also the total burden on the exchequer.
