K M Dayashankar
HYDERABAD, JULY 18, 2024: Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy has formally launched the ambitious Crop loan waiver scheme of Rs one lakh in the first phase in the state on Thursday.
At a video conference with the farmers from 110 Rythu vedikas from the state Secretariat, the Chief Minister said that they had deposited Rs 6,098 crore into the bank accounts of 11.50 lakh farmers in the state. Reiterating that the Congress party was committed to ensure that the promises made by the Gandhi family are upheld, he said “if they give their word, it is as good as done”.
He alleged that the previous BRS government had failed to fulfill the promises of waiving Rs 28,000 crore loans despite being in power for 10 years. Stating that they were waiving the crop loans as per the Warangal declaration announced by Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, he assured to waive off Rs 1.5 lakh crop loans by this month end. He clarified that they were waiving crop loans based on passbooks as majority of the farmers do not have ration cards.
Alleging that the BRS government had made debts to the tune of over Rs 7 lakh crores, he said that the government was paying interests of Rs 7,000 crore per month and allocating Rs 5,000 crore for salaries and pensions. Claiming that they had spent Rs 29,000 crore for the implementation of various schemes during the last seven months, he said that they would transform agriculture as a festival by allocating Rs 31,000 crore to the farmers accounts as part of crop loan waiver scheme.
He said that the second phase of crop loan waiver requires Rs 8,000 crore and the third phase of crop loan for Rs 1.5 lakh to Rs 2 lakhs would require 15,000 crore and would be waived by August 15. Deputy CM Batti Vikramarka, Speaker Prasad Kumar, Council chairman Gutha Sukender Reddy, Ministers Uttam Kumar Reddy, Tummala Nageshwara Rao, Ponguleti Srinivasa Reddy, D Sridhar Babu, Ponnam Prabhakar, CM’s advisor Vem Narender Redd, government advisor K Kesava Rao, Chief Secretary Santhi Kumari and others were also present.
