Farmers to get tokens from today for loan waiver scheme

Kodagu district administration began distributing tokens to farmers who were eligible for the loan waiver scheme.

Deputy Commissioner P I Sreevidya said that farmers who had availed crop loans from commercial banks in the district will receive tokens from Thursday onwards.

The farmers should submit relevant documents and avail tokens at the respective banks, she added.

Sreevidya while addressing reporters at the DC’s office in Madikeri said that there are 145 branches of different commercial banks in the district. A total of 17,780 farmers had availed Rs 1,350 crore crop loans from these banks.

Tokens will be distributed until the second week of January.

“There is no need to panic. The tokens will be provided to all eligible farmers,” she said and added that 10 districts including Kodagu, Udupi and Dakshina Kannada were selected for the scheme.

“The relevant documents are being collected from farmers between April 1, 2009, to December 31, 2017, towards the loan waiver scheme. The farmers are required to submit their Aadhaar card, ration card and RTC number. A committee in this regard had been formed which will be headed by the tahsildar. Farmers can approach the tahsildar in case of any doubts regarding crop loan waiver,” she said.

Farmers may register for loan waiver at the bank during working hours. A maximum of 40 farmers may enrol in a bank per day, said the deputy commissioner.

As per the norms fixed by the government, only the farmers who have availed personal crop loans are eligible for the facility. A family can avail loans up to Rs 2 lakh. The ration cards issued before July 5, 2018, will only be considered.

The farmers paying income tax are not covered under the scheme. Employees of state government, Central government, semi-government, government aided institution or public sector undertakings cannot avail the scheme.

Also, retired government employees drawing a monthly pension of more than Rs 15,000 are not eligible. However, the pension limit does not apply to ex-servicemen.

For details, contact: DC’s office helpline 08272 221077