BENGALURU: Leaders of BJP, the principal Opposition in Karnataka, dismissed as mere eyewash the state government’s decision to enhance the ex-gratia amount for kin of farmers who committed suicide recently.
Opposition leader in the Legislative Assembly, Jagadish Shettar, said mere increase of ex-gratia would not help farmers, but that amount should reach the kin of victims without any hurdles. Though the state government had hiked the ex-gratia amount from Rs 2 lakhs to Rs 5 lakhs, in reality it has already disbursed Rs 2 lakhs to 108 families out of 250 genuine cases. The amount was not reaching all families because of certain guidelines set by the state government, he added asking how the government would disburse Rs five lakhs when it failed to release Rs 2 lakhs to the kin of victims.
He said regarding waiver of interest on farm loans, the government has not given any specific assurance. Waiver of compound interest or extension of term of repayment of farm loans would not help serve any purpose.
