HYDERABAD: Fulfilling its 2018 poll promise on farm loan waiver, the government will release Rs 2,006 crore which will be deposited in the accounts of six lakh farmers from August 16. The state cabinet had last week decided to release the amount to farmers who had availed loans up to Rs 50,000 from banks.
“Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao will formally announce the loan waiver on August 15 and the government will release the amount the next day,” finance minister Harish Rao said. The minister along with agriculture minister S Niranjan Reddy held a meeting with bankers on farm loan waiver on Friday.
During the assembly elections, the ruling party had promised waiver of crop loans waiver up to Rs 1 lakh. Last year, loans up to Rs 25,000 were cleared by releasing Rs 408 crore which had benefited about 2.96 lakh farmers. Harish Rao said the loan amount would be deposited in the farmers’ accounts as per the decision of the cabinet recently. Both banks and officials have to coordinate on this.
The state finance minister said that as soon as the amount was deposited in the farmers’ accounts in the name of CM, the beneficiary should get an SMS. The banks should also inform farmers that they are eligible for a fresh loan.
Keeping in view of past instances where some banks adjusted the loan amount towards interests, the minister said that this should not be done at any cost. Representatives from 42 various banks participated in the meeting.
