Rythu Sangham slams TS govt's anti-farmer stance

Bagh Lingampally: The secretary of Telangana Rythu Sangham, T Sagar criticised the State government for not taking adequate measures to provide bank loans to the farmers in the State. He was speaking at the state committee meeting of the association held here at Sundaraiah Vignana Kendram on Tuesday.

Expressing his anger at the current situation, he said that banks were averse to give loans to ryots despite the State government allocating Rs 6,000 crore for loan waiver. For the financial year 2019-20, the State government allocated Rs 29,500 crore for kharif and Rs 19,240 crore for rabi for agri loans, but banks have disbursed only Rs 11,500 crore so far, he lamented. Sagar said that banks gave loans to 28 lakh farmers about 50 per cent of the target of giving loans to 55 lakh ryots for the year.

As banks were not providing loans, Sagar expressed concerns that farmers were forced to take private loans with high interest rates. Crop insurance premiums were collected only from 18 lakh farmers by the State and Central governments after the introduction of PM Fasal Bheema Yojana but only 3.88 crore farmers claimed insurance, he said.

While every year nearly 30 lakh farmers were losing crops, but only a few farmers were receiving insurance claims, he alleged. He criticised the State government for withholding financial assistance given under Rythu Bandhu scheme to most of the farmers this agriculture season. He expressed fears that farmers may not be able to sell their produce above the MSP.

The vice-president of All India Kisan Sabha, Sarampalli Malla Reddy, the state vice-president of Kisan Sabha, Professor Aribandi Prasad Rao, V Sanjeeva Reddy, M Shobhan, Bonthu Rambabu, Nagi Reddy, Madhusudhan Reddy, M Lakshmi, Bandi Padma, Kunsoth Dharma, Sarampalli Bhagyalakshmi, Manga Narsimhulu, Meka Ashok Reddy, Bhoorgu Krishna Reddy and others participated in the meeting.