Loan waiver from Dec 10

Hyderabad: Faced with criticism over non-implementation of loan waiver scheme even six months after coming to power, AP Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu on Tuesday announced that the repayment would begin from December 10.

• 43 lakh beneficiaries including farmers, Dwcra groups
• Out of 82 lakh farmers, only 42 lakh provided all details
• Govt exploring ways to benefit remaining farmers as well
• About 20% total loan to be credited to their accounts
• This would ensure that the loan accounts do not become NPAs
• They will be issued certificates from Farmers Corporation
• 10,000 relief per hectare for farmers hit by calamities

After holding a meeting with Finance Minister Yanmala Ramakrishnudu, he said the government was finalising the list of beneficiaries and the names would be announced on December 4. He said about 43 lakh beneficiaries including farmers, DWCRA women groups and weavers will be benefitted from the scheme.

According to Agriculture Minister Prattipati Pulla Rao, the committee on loan waiver had zeroed on three to four alternatives to implement the crop wavier scheme. About 20 per cent of the total loan amount would be credited to the accounts of the beneficiaries.

The government would be shouldering the debit burden of the farmers paying both the principal and interest accumulated on the loans availed by the famers. The Minister said that out of a total 82 lakh farmers, only 42 lakh had provided all necessary details that were sought by the government to provide the relief under the scheme.

Apart from a good number of farmers not having Aadhaar linkage to their bank accounts, there were others who had not so far submitted details like ration card, Aadhaar card, revenue records and the like, which were needed to provide the relief under the crop loan wavier scheme. But, the government is exploring ways to bring the remaining farmers under the loan waiver ambit.

Rao clarified that the government would pay 20 per cent of the total crop loan burden. This would enable that the loan accounts would not come under nonperforming assets (NPA) category. And, this would be followed with the issue of certificates to the farmers from the Farmers Empowerment Corporation, which could be encashed by the farmers.

It was also decided to come up with a policy on relief to the tune of Rs 10,000 per hectare, to the farmers who had suffered huge losses during to natural calamities like Hudhud cyclone.