Shun Aadhaar Card Linkage To Loan Waiver: YSRCP

The YSR Congress has demanded the TDP Government of Andhra Pradesh shun the policy of linking Aadhaar cards to all welfare schemes, and implement the loan waiver scheme in right earnest.

Speaking to reporters on Saturday, Party spokesperson Vasireddy Padma said, "The Aadhaar linkage is being used as a tool to curtail the number of beneficiaries and dilute the welfare schemes. The list of farmers qualifying for the loan waiver has seen huge depletion on one new criterion or the other, and now the Aadhaar linkage is a further step to downsize the number of beneficiaries."

"We demand that the State shun from linking Aadhaar cards to loan waivers as many eligible people are being turned down on the ground that they have Aadhaar cards elsewhere. While Chandrababu Naidu could have his Aadhaar card here in the city and be the chief minister of Andhra Pradesh, why can't a person having a small piece of land in Seemandhra and residing here not be eligible for the loan waiver?" she asked.

She accused the TDP of being very deceptive on the loan waiver scheme, and mentioned how in Tirupati a farmer had said at a meeting that his farm loan of Rs 1.5 lakh was waived off and Chandrababu Naidu had patted the "lucky" farmer, but later on it turned out that the farmer had been asked to say that by the officials, and that the actual loan waived off by the Government was just Rs 29,999.

Even innocent farmers were being forced to tell lies by the State for the sake of publicity, she said.

The figure given by Kotaiah Committee was much higher than what the Government had earmarked for the purpose, Padma said. She demanded that the Aadhaar card not be linked to loan waivers and other welfare schemes. (INN)