Farm loans: Govt to repay coop societies from June

Minister for Co-operation Bandeppa Kashempur on Monday said the state government had deposited Rs 1,088 crore in the bank accounts of 2.19 lakh farmers under the farm loan waiver scheme till January.

"An amount of Rs 2,600 crore released by the Finance department for the scheme has been transferred to Apex Bank. About 4.8 lakh farmers are yet to repay loans to cooperative societies as on January 31. An amount of Rs 1,796 crore is needed to waive loans up to Rs one lakh each taken by 3.87 lakh farmers, who have borrowed from the societies," he told reporters here.

The government would start repaying the farmers' loans to the societies from June as certain procedures in this regard are being finalised.

"The department has released Rs 843 crore to waive loans borrowed by 15.5 lakh farmers from nationalised banks. The government will shortly release Rs 1,300 crore to waive loans of 5 lakh farmers, who borrowed from nationalised banks," he said.

Kashempur said, "The government has disbursed Rs 10,000 each to 18,000 street vendors under Badavara Bandhu interest-free loan scheme in Bengaluru. The government proposes to disburse loans to 53,000 vendors, while loans will be disbursed to about 45,000 vendors by March."

"Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy intends to cover 4.5 lakh street vendors across the state under the scheme," he added.