The State government has decided to constitute a high-level committee for monitoring the implementation of crop loan waiver and renewal of loans to farmers by banks.
The committee will have secretaries of the Finance and Agriculture departments as well as representatives from the banking sector as its members. It will meet once every week to review the disbursal of waiver amount to farmers bank wise, Minister for Finance and Health T. Harish Rao said. He was addressing the meeting of the State Level Bankers Committee here on Monday.
The Minister said while crop loan waiver implemented by other States were highly conditional, Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao had implemented the process twice unconditionally. Loans of 35 lakh farmers, totalling ₹16,144 crore, were waived in the first phase and the second phase for clearing loans, to the tune of ₹8,098 crore taken by 16.66 lakh farmers, was underway.
Mr. Harish Rao said farmers might have outstanding amounts in the banks in the form of personal loans, house loans and others. But bankers should ensure that the amount released under crop loan waiver reached farmers without adjusting it for other outstanding loans. In case of farmers who had already cleared their loans, banks should take steps to pay the amount to them directly.
“Farmers should be happy that the amount released by the government has reached them without any hiccups,” he said adding renewal of issue of crop loans to farmers would instil confidence in them. Though the State’s economy was adversely impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic, the Chief Minister had announced crop loan waiver in the interests of farmers. Bankers should understand this and cooperate with the government.
The Minister recalled the practice of banks to waive loans phase wise selecting clusters of villages and said such process would take two to three months for completion. Banks should take steps to ensure that the present phase of loan waiver was completed within a month.
Minister for Agriculture S. Niranjan Reddy said the Chief Minister had announced the second phase of crop loan waiver in spite of the financial constraints for the welfare of the farmers. The importance attached to agriculture by the present government could be seen from the fact that the sector was contributing 18% of the State’s GSDP.
Bankers should cooperate with the government in the effective implementation of loan waiver process.
