Taking exception to banks withholding input subsidies that the government had paid farmers for the crop loss in the recent floods, Sharanabasappa Mamshetty, district president of Karnataka Pranta Raitha Sangha (KPRS), said that the very purpose of the input subsidy payment was being defeated.
Addressing a press conference in Kalaburagi on Monday, he demanded that the Deputy Commissioner and the Chief Executive Officer of the zilla panchayat intervene in the issue and ensure that the entire amount of input subsidy paid by the government was available for withdrawal.
“The government is directly paying the amount in the bank accounts of the beneficiary farmers and the banks are withholding the amount on the pretext that the farmers have not repaid the previous loan amount borrowed. The Deputy Commissioner and the ZP CEO should take it seriously and direct all the bank managers to allow the farmers to withdraw the entire amount of input subsidy,” Mr. Mamshetty said.
Terming the input subsidy being given to the farmers “scanty”, he demanded a sum of ₹25,000 for an acre of red gram.
“Standing red gram crops in Kalaburagi, Bidar, Yadgir, and other districts have been destroyed in the recent floods. The government is giving ₹7,000 a hectare as input subsidy, which would be around ₹2,800 an acre. Farmers have spent at least ₹5,500 for sowing the crop on an acre and therefore we want the government to give a compensation of at least ₹25,000 an acre as its input subsidy doesn’t even cover the actual input costs incurred,” he said.
Mr. Mamshetty also took exception to the way that the administration was disbursing the input subsidy among the farmers and alleged that some of them had received the amount and others did not.
“The mechanism of paying the input subsidy is not proper. Some farmers in a village have received the amount and others in the same village have not. The administration should address this issue on priority basis and ensure that all the farmers get the compensation,” he said.
