Hyderabad: Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao said loans worth Rs 16,124 crore of 35.29 lakh farmers had been waived and banks have issued 'no dues' certificates. Terming it the biggest ever crop loan waiver in the country, Mr Rao said the government ahd fulfilled its major poll promise by clearing the arrears in four installments.
Speaking in the Assembly on Wednesday, Mr Rao refuted Opposition criticism on loan waiver and offered to pay the interest that farmers may have incurred due to loan repayment stretching over four years.
“From the government side, the loan waiver is complete. If the Opposition feels that some farmers are yet to receive payment and interest on it, I request them to submit their details village-wise and bank-wise within 10 days. We are ready to clear the interest amount also. For a government, which waived over '16,000 crore, another '300 crore to '400 crore for payment of interest is not a big issue,” Mr Rao said.
The CM stated that the government took several measures to make farming profitable over the past three years.
“Quality and uninterrupted power, adequate seeds and fertilisers, crop loans, godowns for storage, more foodgrain purchasing centres to ensure MSP, irrigation facility by renovating tanks under Mission Kakatiya and completing irrigation projects on a war footing etc have helped farmers to produce record foodgrains,” he said.
“We are now moving towards organising farmers by setting up farmer coordination councils to fix minimum support price (MSP) for their produce and ensure MSP in all market yards, which is a first-of-its kind initiative in the country,” the Chief Minister told the Assembly.
