Farmers with bank deposits eligible for loan waiver

The state government has removed the clause that farmers, who had deposits in banks, will only be partially eligible for crop loan waiver scheme, Cooperation Minister Bandeppa Kashempur said on Monday.

Addressing a press conference in Bengaluru, Kashempur said the clause - if a farmer has deposited money in cooperative or nationalised banks before July 10, 2018, it will be adjusted against the overdue crop loan - has been done away with.

A government order to this effect was issued on September 22, the minister said.

The total amount of loans waived under the scheme - including those availed of by farmers from cooperative institutions and nationalised banks - works out to
Rs 43,611 crore. The government has proposed to repay this amount in four instalments.(four years).

Kashempur said that banks can be told to furnish details of farmers and the loan they have borrowed, by October 5. The details will be then forwarded to the finance department. Farmers will start getting debt-free certificates from October 15, he added.

The minister said the state government was committed to implementing the crop loan waiver scheme and farmers should not have any apprehension about the government’s intentions.

As things stand now, farmers have been told that they need not repay loans borrowed from cooperative and nationalised banks up to Rs 2 lakh with a cut-off date of December 31, 2017.

Besides, crop loans up to Rs 1 lakh borrowed from the cooperative sector till July 10, 2018 will also be waived.