₹9,654 cr. released for waiving crop loans of 17.15 lakh farmers: Harish

The State government, headed by Chief Minister K.Chandrasekhar Rao, has implemented a loan waiver for the second time writing loans of up to ₹1 lakh obtained by farmers.

Minister for Finance and Health T.Harish Rao has announced that the State government would take up waiver of crop loans of above ₹1 lakh on priority basis.

The State government, headed by Chief Minister K.Chandrasekhar Rao, has implemented a loan waiver for the second time writing loans of up to ₹1 lakh obtained by farmers, he said. Accordingly, the Finance department released ₹9,654 crore benefitting 18.79 lakh farmers of which the amount was credited into the accounts of 17.15 lakh farmers. The balance of 1.6 lakh farmers could not get the benefit due to technical and other reasons.

The Minister was speaking at a meeting to review the progress of the loan waiver process with senior officials and representatives of the banking sector on Monday.

Inoperative accounts, closure of accounts, change of account numbers and merger of banks were identified as prime reasons behind the amounts not getting credited into the accounts of 1.6 lakh farmers. Accordingly, it was decided to identify Rythu Bandhu accounts through Aadhaar linkage so that the amounts could be credited to the accounts. Close to 1 lakh farmers were expected to benefit from the process. Finance officials were directed to identify the accounts using NPSI gateway so that the department could credit the amounts into such accounts helping close to 50,000 farmers.

District Collectors and agriculture officials were asked to take up field visits to identify the leftover 16,000 farmers so that steps could be taken to credit the assured amount into their respective accounts. The Minister directed bankers to set up grievance cells at the State level with a dedicated officer and coordinates like telephone number and e-mail address should be communicated to farmers so that they could represent their grievances. The government on its part would appoint a nodal officer on behalf of the Agriculture department to receive and redress the grievances.

Mr.Harish Rao asked bankers to ensure that new loans were given to farmers who availed crop loan waiver and conduct reviews from time to time on the disbursal process. He expressed concern that only 35% of farmers who availed loan waiver were given fresh loans, and asked the banks to ensure that renewal of loans for all the 18.79 lakh farmers should be completed before the month-end.

He said the government would conduct a high-level meeting towards the end of the month to review the progress of loan waiver. Banks and officials concerned should resolve the issues faced during the process and ensure that farmers are given fresh loans.