Telangana Congress on Thursday attacked the TRS Government for allegedly not releasing the third instalment of ‘4,000 crore of the loan waiver scheme to the farmers, leaving them at the mercy of private lenders as banks have stopped giving them loans.
Telangana PCC president N Uttam Kumar Reddy said the amount was supposed to be released in March as part of the Government’s commitment to waive off ‘4,000 crore annually for four years to implement the Rs 17,000-crore scheme, but it has not been done so far.”Farmers, expecting that the government will pay, have not paid the banks; now the banks are not lending to farmers in rural areas in Telangana.
So, the farmers are at the mercy of private money lenders who charge as high 36 to 48 per cent interest per annum, and it’s a precarious situation,” Reddy said in a Press release. Farmers had borrowed from private money lenders, and they are in distress now following crop loss due to the recent heavy rains, he said. “It has affected 37 lakh farmers whose ‘pattadar’ passbooks are with the banks. Three lakh women farmers had mortgaged their gold with the banks,” Reddy claimed. “While this Government is paying water grid and irrigation contractors to the tune of ‘2,000 crore a month, they are not honouring their commitment of ‘4,000 crore this fiscal for farmers, for loan waiver,” he said.