Farm loan waiver only for 11 lakh out of 39 lakh farmers: MoS Bandi Sanjay

Hyderabad: Union Minister of State for Home Affairs and Karimnagar MP Bandi Sanjay Kumar criticised the Congress party for breaking its promise to waive Rs 2 lakh farm loan.

On Thursday, he said that while 39 lakh farmers are waiting for the farm loan waiver, the State government has decided to waive off the loans of only 11 lakh farmers. The Congress-led state government should prove its sincerity by sanctioning new loans to farmers as per the election promise, he said.

He said that the loan waiver is not applied to 70 per cent of the farmers. According to the calculations of the State Level Bankers Committee (SLBC), the amount of loans taken by farmers in the state is more than Rs 64,000 crore. "It is ridiculous to pay only 10 per cent of it and make big out of it and go for celebrations," he added.

“Farmers became defaulters because of the attitude of the previous government. Farmers would not have become defaulters if the loans had been waived on time, and now the farmers have to pay the price for the government’s mistake,” he pointed out.

He recalled that Congress assured that the State government would take responsibility for paying the principal amount along with interest for all the loans taken by the farmers up to Rs 2 lakh.

"I urge the state government to pay off the loan amount taken from the banks so that their names from the list of 'defaulters' will be removed. That makes them eligible for the grant of new loans,” he said. For this, he asked the Congress party to stick to its promise to waive off the farmer loans without imposing any restrictions and regulations.