Telangana Chief Minister Revanth Reddy on Tuesday announced that the farm loan waiver will be implemented from July 18. Under the loan waiver decision, agricultural loans of up to Rs 1 lakh will be waived off by the government. The state government will directly deposit the amount to farmer's loan accounts by the evening of July 18.
While sharing the information, the Telangana Chief Minister Office (CMO) stated that clear instructions have been issued to the bankers that the loan waiver funds should not get diverted. It also said that if any banker is found depositing the released fund in other accounts, strict action will be taken against them.
Congress promised loan waiver during assembly polls
It is pertinent to note that farm loan waiver was one of the major promises made by the Congress party, apart from six guarantees, in the run-up to last year's assembly polls. The other six guarantees were categorised as "Mahalakshmi", "Rythu Bharosa", "Gruha Jyothi", "Indiramma Indlu", "Yuva Vikasam" and "Cheyutha". However, the announcement of Rs 1 lakh has drawn criticism from the opposition as initially Rs 2 lakh loan waiver was promised. Earlier, it was reported that Rs 31,000 crores would be exhausted by the state government to waive off the loans, but the limit per farmer at that time was Rs 2 lakh.
BJP slams Congress for running from its promises
Hitting out at Revanth Reddy's government, BJP MP from Telangana's Malkajgiri and former state Finance Minister Eatala Rajende said that the state government is running from its promises by imposing conditions. He demanded that the farm loans up to Rs 2 lakh should be waived immediately.
He said, "The Congress government is trying to run away from its promise of waiving loans of worth Rs 2 lakh of 69 lakh farmers by imposing several conditions...We demand that the government should waive loans unconditionally"
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