Rs 1 lakh loans to be waived off tomorrow

Hyderabad: In a step forward in the implementation of farm loan waiver scheme, Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy has announced that loans up to Rs 1 lakh would be waived off on July 18.

In the wake of strong criticism from the opposition over the linkage of ration cards,the Chief Minister clarified that the farm loan waiver scheme benefit would be extended to those who possessed pass books. “Ration cards are only for identification purposes of the farmer’s family,” he said.

Revanth said the loan waiver amount will be deposited directly in the bank account of the farmers. The CM has asked the Collectors to make arrangements for the launch of farm loan waiver scheme at all “Rythu Vedikas” in the villages on July 18. All people’s representatives including Ministers, MLAs, MLCs, MPs and other local people representatives would attend the programme.

The Chief Minister instructed the banks to ensure proper utilisation of funds which are being released to deposit in the bank accounts of the farmers directly. Revanth Reddy warned of stringent action against the bank officials if they found that the loan waiver amount was adjusted in any other account of the farmers. All the scheduled banks have been asked to deposit the amount in the farmers’ bank accounts by evening of July 18.

Officials said that it required at least Rs 15,000 crore to clear the farmers’ debts under the loan waiver scheme on a single day.

The State Finance department has already made arrangements to mobilise such huge funds from different sources, including borrowings from the RBI and other banking and financial institutions.

The mortgage of some costly government lands in Greater Hyderabad limits was also one of the options to mobilise funds in case the government failed to get adequate funds from the institutions before the deadline.