Only white cards eligible for loan waiver scheme

Hyderabad: The State Government has released guidelines for implementation of loan waiver scheme. Farmers who possess white ration cards only will be eligible to avail Rs 2 lakh loan waiver and the money will be directly deposited into the accounts of the farmers, according to the guidelines. The government has taken the farmer’s family as a unit and the loan taken in the name of women will be waived first followed by other family members. This scheme would be applied for only short-term loans.

The government also warned that they will recover money if anyone was found to have indulged in malpractices to avail the loan waiver scheme. A government order GO Rt. No 567 issued on Monday listed out the guidelines for implementation of the crop loan waiver. It said the food security card database of the Civil Supplies department would be considered as a parameter to define a farmer’s family.

The short-term loans obtained between December 12, 2018 and December 9, 2023 would be waived off under the scheme. The waiver would be implemented for loans obtained from scheduled commercial banks, rural banks and district cooperative banks.

The farm loan waiver would not be applicable for loans secured by SHGs, JLGs, RMGs, LECS. Similarly, it would not be applicable for rescheduled loans or reorganised loans secured by firms or companies but it would be applicable for loans secured through PACS.

Farmers who took loans more than Rs 2 lakh will have to pay the excess loan amount to the banks. Once the excess amount was paid, the remaining Rs 2 lakh would be deposited into the farmer’s loan account. The order noted that the Agriculture department would set up grievance cells to address complaints raised by farmers. They can lodge the complaints on the portal or at the centres at mandal level. Officials would process the application and address it within 30 days and the same should be informed to the farmers.

The order detailed that every bank would be appointing a nodal officer and the officer would be coordinating with the Agriculture department and NIC (National Informatics Centre) which manages the official portal of the farm loan waiver scheme. The officer would have to digitally sign on the farm loans from the respective banks.