Farmers' repaid loan will be reimbursed

Speaking to reporters in Bangalore on Thursday, Co-operation Minister Lakshman Savadi said the then JD(S)-BJP coalition government had announced crop loan waiver to the tune of Rs 25,000 to all farmers in 2006-07. By then a large section of farmers had already repaid their loan. The Government will now reimburse the loan amount to such farmers within the next 15 days with an interest at four per cent. Rs 52.63 crore has been sanctioned for the purpose, the minister said.

The State government will start dispersing fresh crop loans to farmers at the rate of three per cent interest from June this year. Last year, the Government provided Rs 7,000 crore as crop loan to farmers. The total loan this year is likely to exceed by around Rs 600 crore compared to the previous year, he said.

He said nationalised banks will also be providing crop loans at three per cent interest. Savadi said officials have been directed not to insist on immediate loan repayment in 15 flood-affected districts. Short term loans in these districts have been converted into long term loans, he said.

He reiterated that JD(S) leader and former Karnataka Milk Federation (KMF) Chairman H D Revanna continued evading notices from being served on him to reply to the audit of KMF accounts from 2000-01 to 2007-08.

He said as per KMF rules if any director absented himself from three consecutive meetings, then he is liable to be disqualified. Revanna headed KMF for more than a decade since 1998 and presently, is one of its directors.