'Farmers must not repay loans till banks give NPA details'

 Health Minister Ramesh Kumar said commercial banks have not been able to get back nearly Rs 6 lakh crore given to industrialists. Farmers in the state should not repay their loans till the banks give details about the non-performing assets, he added.

Speaking in the Legislative Assembly on Friday, the minister said it is the poor and middleclass who deposit their hard-earned money in commercial banks. And affluent people and businessmen end up taking loans, he said.

Industrialists have become loan defaulters. “Till details of the NPAs are made public, farmers who have defaulted should not repay banks. A resolution to support farmers in this regard should be moved in the Assembly,” he suggested to JD(S) leader H D Kumaraswamy.

The minister said those who are the reasons for the NPAs, are sitting in Rajya Sabha. Such persons also own TV channels and newspapers. They also appoint and dislodge prime ministers and chief ministers, he sarcastically said.

Kumaraswamy said the government itself had taken loans worth crores of rupees. “Then, there is no point in finding fault with farmers for taking loans,” he said.