The party submitted documents of over 10,000 farmers for whom the interest on waived off crop loans was not paid by the state government.
Led by Telangana Pradesh Congress Committee (TPCC) President N Uttam Kumar Reddy, a delegation of Congress MLAs on Friday met Assembly Speaker S Madhusudhana Chary and submitted copies of documents pertaining to over 10,000 farmers for whom the interest on waived off crop loans was not paid by the state government (the crop loans were waived off (repaid) in installments by the government, resulting in interest accumulated on on them).
The delegation comprised of TPCC Working President Mallu Bhatti Vikramarka, PAC Chairman Dr J Geetha Reddy, MLAs G Chinna Reddy, Rammohan Reddy, N Padmavathi, A Sampath Kumar and Vamshichand Reddy, and TPCC Kisan Cell chairman M Kodanda Reddy, apart from Uttam Kumar Reddy himself.
Speaking to mediapersons later, Uttam Kumar Reddy said that the documents such as the farmers' individual applications, information procured from banks, notices served to farmers and communications sent by District Collectors to various people were submitted to the Speaker to counter Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao's claim of total completion of the crop loan waiver scheme with no dues.
He said that the TRS government had cheated the farmers by splitting the crop loan waiver into four installments. The installments and the resultant delays in clearing the loans attracted interest and penalties on the farmers' loan accounts, he said.
"When we pressurised the TRS government, the Chief Minister gave an assurance on the floor of the House about six months ago that the government would pay the interest amount, and that the burden would not be passed on to farmers. However, no amount was cleared during the last six months. In the Assembly winter session, KCR claimed that there were no dues and that everything had been cleared. As per the information procured from the lead bank, the government is yet to clear an interest burden of over Rs. 984 crores pertaining to the crop loan waiver scheme. We have submitted documentary evidence for over 10,000 farmers seeking immediate clearance of interest dues," he said.
Reddy said that since the Chief Minister had promised to clear the interest amount on the waived-off crop loans on the floor of the House, the Speaker had been urged to constitute an all-party committee to look into the issue and recommend to the government that the dues be cleared immediately.
The TPCC chief pointed out that the previous Congress-led UPA regime had waived off crop loans of Rs. 72,000 crores of nearly 4 crore farmers across the country in 2008. Farmers of the then united AP, including Telangana, had got nearly Rs. 13,157 crores under the scheme, and the entire process was completed in just 100 days. However, he alleged that the TRS government had openly cheated the farmers by splitting the loan dues into four installments. Because of that, even today not all farmers were free from their debts, he claimed.
Reddy said that it was also shocking that the Chief Minister has misled the House on multiple occasions on the crop loan waiver issue. "By openly lying on the floor of the House, without even cross-checking the facts, KCR has shown utter disrespect to the Assembly, and displayed his negligent attitude towards farmers," he said.