Chandrababu Naidu keeps his poll promise, announces massive farm loan waiver policy
Hyderabad: Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu announced on Thursday that loan waiver would begin from December 10.
Naidu made a policy statement on crop loan waiver in Hyderabad, saying loans less than Rs 50,000 will be waived off at one go and the list of beneficiaries will be made available on the Internet on December 6.
Naidu today announced to waive off farm loan of up to Rs 1.50 lakh per family in the state.
"Today, we have implemented the manifesto. For the last six months we have done enough exercise. In this process, we are settling around 40 lakh accounts. Nearly, 27 lakh persons are going to be benefited, 23 lakh families are going to benefit from this scheme. It is going to be implemented from December 10," Naidu told reporters.
For the convenience of farmers, Naidu said his government set up a grievance cell and a call centre to receive complaints if any. This service would start functioning from December 9.
He further said, “It is a big programme. Never in the history of has such a scheme been implemented by any of the state governments or even the central government so far.”
“In Andhra Pradesh, there was a problem. All farmers were in doldrums, they were stuck in debt traps. For that I have given them a promise that agriculture should be a profitable venture. For this from December 10 onwards, amount of Rs 50,000 will be allocated per family in entirety. Above Rs 50,000, the sum will be given in five instalments. First instalment which is 20 per cent (of the total money) and they will be eligible to take money again (fresh loans from bank)," he said.
The remaining 80 per cent amount for families with loan amounts above Rs 50,000 would be adjusted on annual basis over next four years as per norms.
The government would bear total interest at the rate of 10 per cent.
As per the 'Debt Redemption Scheme', those who took loans between April 1, 2007 and December 31, 2013 are eligible for waiver.
"The government has decided to give Rs 10,000 per acre for horticulture farmers,” said the CM.
The number of accounts entered by banks is 82.66 lakh and number of accounts cleared for loan waiver in the first phase is 40.43 lakhs.
As many as 26.77 lakh farmers have been cleared in the phase one.
In phase II (after receiving necessary documents), 42.23 lakh accounts will be processed.
The government has finalised the list of beneficiaries after synchronising it with Aadhaar cards and ration cards to avoid loopholes.
For the benefit of farmers, Naidu said the government has decided to go ahead and take help from scientists. Deficiency of micro-nutrients in the soil will be taken care of. Soil testing will be done and we will encourage the scientific of doing agriculture.
