Farmers Ending Lives Due To Delay In Loan Waiver: Harish Rao

MLA and former minister T Harish Rao today wrote an open letter to Chief Minister Revanth Reddy demanding the immediate implementation of the loan waiver of Rs 2 lakh for farmers, claiming that they were facing notices and pressure from banks.

In his letter, he reminded the Chief Minister that he had promised in his election manifesto that when the Congress came to power in Telangana, it would waive off loans of upto Rs 2 lakh on December 9, 2023.

"You yourself called upon the farmers who got a loan waiver of Rs 1 lakh during the BRS regime to go back to the banks and take loans of upto Rs 2 lakh. Lakhs of farmers in the State have taken crop loans from banks believing your word. The loan waiver however did not happen on December 9 as you announced. It's been almost four months since you came to power, but not a single rupee of loan has been waived off for a single farmer. Banks are issuing notices to farmers. They say that they have nothing to do with the government's assurance and are forcing farmers to pay the installments along with interest on the loans taken. Hundreds of farmers in the combined Warangal and Medak districts have received bank notices. The farmers are worried about this," he said.

Rao said that the interest on the loans taken was continuously increasing, and that the farmers were facing huge financial burdens. "Banks are also putting farmers in the list of defaulters. The farmers' CIBIL ratings are also falling drastically. The children of the farmers are unable to avail themselves of education loans. Farmers are under severe mental stress due to these issues," he said.

"The BRS, which was in power for two terms under the leadership of KCR, had waived off loans of up to Rs 2 lakh, at the rate of Rs 1 lakh each twice. No single bank had ever pressurised the farmers to repay the loans. But the Congress government has not yet even announced any policy on loan waiver, and there is no mention of loan waiver in the budget either, leading to chaos in the State," he said.

Rao said that till date the government had not given any clarity to either the bankers or the farmers on the loan waiver scheme, and had not directed the bankers not to put pressure on the farmers as it would repay the loans. "Will the government give back cash to any farmers if they pay off their loans without any interest burden, or not? There is no clarity that matter either," he said.

He claimed that the Congress government had not implemented any of the promises made to the farmers. "As many as 209 farmers have died in the State in the last four months due to lack of 24-hour free electricity, crops drying up and no timely water. The farmers were forced to take their own lives due to the pressure and harassment of the bankers in the matter of loan waiver," he claimed.