Finance Minister Harish Rao asks banks to waive farm loans from August 16

Hyderabad: Finance Minister T Harish Rao on Friday instructed banks to make necessary arrangements for implementing the farm loan waiver up to Rs 50,000 from August 16 and also release fresh loans instantly.

At a review meeting on farm loans with bank officials here, he said nearly six lakh farmers would get relief from the loan waiver. The government would spend Rs 2,006 crore for the scheme. All the released amounts would be deposited directly in the bank accounts of beneficiaries. The financial institutions would deduct the same from the farmers' accounts.

Rao also instructed banks to send SMS messages to mobile phones of all farmers in the name of Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao informing waiver of their farm loans. He asked them to provide fresh loans without any conditions soon after the previous loan amount is paid.

Agriculture Minister S Niranjan Reddy said farmers would be provided opportunity to avail fresh bank loans in every season. The CM wanted not a single complaint of farmers being deprived of loans reported. "Banks should be farmer-friendly and extend loan facility liberally," he asserted.