Hyderabad: Coming down heavily on the Narendra Modi government over the demonetisation of high-value currency notes, Telangana Pradesh Congress Committee president N. Uttam Kumar Reddy on Sunday said that the move has aggravated the agrarian crisid as farmers could lose their Rabi crop.
Addressing a ‘Rythu Garjana’ public meeting at Achampet of Nagarkurnool district on Sunday, Mr Reddy said the farmers of Telangana state were already facing a crisis due to the non-waiver of their crop loan by the state government.
While farmers were expecting a good crop due to the bountiful rains, he said their hopes were demolished by demonetisation as the process would overlap the Khariff harvest and Rabi sowing season.
He asked the state government to extend immediate assistance to farmers to ensure that they do not fall short of funds to carry out sowing operations.
He alleged that the Telangana State Level Bankers Committee, in its recent meeting, had admitted that a very small percentage of proposed Rs 11,300 crore was disbursed to farmers towards Rabi loans.
Further, with the state government not clearing the dues under promised Rs 1 lakh crop loan waiver scheme, banks refused to grant fresh loans to farmers.
“The limitations on withdrawal of cash and non-availability or acute shortage of cash in rural banks have aggravated the agrarian crisis in the state,” the state Congress chief said.
