Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao has announced a complete waiver of farm loans of less than Rs 1 lakh for over 9 lakh farmers, fulfilling the promise he made during the elections in 2018. The CM, making the announcement on Independence Day eve, stated that farmers who took loans of less than Rs 1 lakh would be freed from debt burden and the government would pay the amount to the banks.
The Chief Minister announced that the money would be immediately deposited in the banks on behalf of the farmers. Special chief finance secretary Ramakrishna Rao issued instructions on Monday, following which Rs 5,809.78 crore was released in favour of 9,02,843 farmers. The released amount will be deposited into the bank accounts of the farmers.
After returning to power for a second consecutive time in 2018, CM KCR had promised to waive farm loans of those who took loans of less than Rs 1 lakh by December 11, 2018. However, due to the COVID-19 pandemic and subsequent lockdown, the government faced significant challenges in mobilising the resources.
On August 2, CM KCR decided to complete the loan waiver within 45 days.The government paid Rs 1,943.64 crore to the banks on behalf of 7,19,488 farmers who had taken loans up to Rs 50,000. Fresh orders were issued to settle the debt amounts up to Rs 99,999.
With this latest decision, the government has paid Rs 7,753 crore, benefiting a total of 16,66,899 farmers.
State minister and BRS working president K.T. Rama Rao called it yet another boon for Telangana farmers under CM KCR's "compassionate governance". He tweeted that the farmer-friendly Telangana government had waived crop loans under Rs 99,999, amounting to Rs 5,809 crore, in a single day.
He expressed pride that Telangana is the only Indian state to waive farm loans twice on such a huge scale.