Bengaluru: Minister for Co-operation, H S Mahadev Prasad, clarified on Wednesday that the enhanced ex-gratia of Rs 5 lakhs to the kin of farmers who committed suicide would be paid with effect from April 1, 2015, based on recommendations of a committee headed by the assistant commissioner.
Talking to media persons here, he said according to government records, 580 farmers have ended their lives since April. Of these cases, 168 cases were listed to receive Rs 2 lakhs as ex-gratia. These families would get an additional Rs 3 lakhs each from respective district administration soon.
"Not all 500 plus farmers are eligible to get Rs 5 lakhs as relief as it will be decided by a committee headed by the assistant commissioner. In Haveri district, of 51 suicide cases, 20 cases were rejected by the committee. The same yardstick will be applicable even to widow pension scheme,” he added.
Replying to a question, the minister said the government is planning to change the guidelines to ensure adequate ex-gratia to farmers who take others land on contract for farming, and have committed suicide due to crop loss.
Under the existing law, such farmers were not eligible.
The Chief Minister had directed the officials concerned to amend the rules so that no genuine farmers were denied relief. Payment of relief to families of dead farmers has been delayed for want of FSL reports. The district administration has been asked to complete an inquiry into farmers' suicide cases as early as possible for quick disbursement of the relief amount.
Mr Mahadev Prasad said the government had agreed to waive the interest on long, medium and short term crop loans borrowed from co-operative banks to bail out farmers who were in distress.
This would cost Rs 220 crore to the state exchequer but would benefit 2.10 lakh farmers who have borrowed Rs 536 crores. To avail this benefit, farmers must clear loans before March 31, 2016. The government might extend the repayment period by two to three months in case of failed crops. However, there was no proposal before the government for complete waiver of crop loan as it would be a huge burden on the state exchequer.
The state government had to clear dues of Rs 600 crore to co-operative banks following waiver of Rs 25,000 borrowed by each farmer under a scheme announced by the previous BJP government.
No incentives for cane growers?
Minister for Co-operation, Sugarcane farmers would have to wait for some time to get their incentives of Rs 200 a ton which has been pending for the last two years. The state government has to vacate the stay order obtained by managements of some sugar mills against the auctioning of sugar seized from their factories, according to sugar minister H S Mahadev Prasad. Talking to reporters on Wednesday, he said the authorities had seized sugar worth Rs 360 crores from 46 sugar mills following their refusal to pay an incentive of Rs 200 a ton fixed by the government for 2013-14. As none of them participated in bidding, Mysore Sales International Limited was asked to float tenders against the government guarantee for Rs 360 crores. A day before the bidding, a few sugar mill managements got a stay order against selling their sugar. The matter remained pending before the court and the department tried to get the stay order vacated. The government would then be able to sell the sugar stock and disburse the money to every farmer. The minister said that the sugar mills owe Rs 880 crores to farmers for the year 2014-15, which would be cleared once the union government sanctioned a soft loan of Rs 800 crores. The amount would be directly credited to the bank accounts of all farmers. The remaining Rs 80 crores wouldn’t be difficult for the sugar factories to arrange. The soft loan is expected to be sanctioned to mills within a week or two.
