Congress to voice farmers’ woes in Assembly

Hyderabad: The Congress would raise the issues of farmers like reimbursement of interests on the loans being waived under crop loan waiver scheme and minimum support price to farm products in the Assembly prominently during the budget session.

The party will pitch for repaying the interests on loans being waived under the crop loan scheme and would seek an assurance from the government in this regard. It may take up agitation in the House till the government comes around.

The Congress has raised the issue of repayment of interests in the previous sessions and demanded reimbursement of the interest. It said that the farmers were made to bear the burden of interest on crop loans which had been waived due to the delay in completing the waiver process.

Speaking at several public meetings, Telangana Pradesh Congress Committee (TPCC) president N Uttam Kumar Reddy said due to the delay for years in the crop loan waiver, the farmers were forced to bear the burden of interest. He said that instead of waiving the loans at one go, the government dragged it for three years and with this the interest had piled up.

In the previous session, the Congress tried to show proofs for its claims. The party delegation submitted a memorandum to the Speaker on the interest issue. Party Kisan Cell chairman M Kodanda Reddy said hundreds of crores of rupees towards interest of the crop loan waiver scheme were yet to be paid to farmers.

According to the estimates of the Congress, the farmers who benefitted with the crop loan scheme have been made to bear a burden of about Rs 2,500 crore of interest. With this, the crop loan scheme has become futile.

Chief Minister K Chandrashekhar Rao has announced in the previous session that if the Congress showed the proofs of interest, the government was ready to pay it. The Congress said that it was ready to show them and called upon the farmers to come up with their claims. The Congress may present the evidence of the interests being charged from the farmers and may demand the government for repayment. It has obtained information from few banks also.

Apart from interest issue, the Congress would prominently raise the minimum support price issue in the Assembly. Due to the absence of MSP, the farmers have been incurring losses. The market agents have been buying farm products for a song. The agents have been selling the same product to the government at the MSP and making money. The party would demand MSP for paddy, red gram, chilly and cotton, the important crops of the State.