Mancherial/Nirmal: Beneficiaries of crop loans of over Rs 2 lakh are waiting for the promised crop loan waiver. Addressing the Raithu Sadasu programme in Mahabubnagar on November 30, Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy had said Rs 2,747 crore had been released to waive crop loans of 3.14 lakh farmers who had taken crop loans of over Rs 2 lakh. He had also written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi saying the state would soon implement the waiver for farmers with loans of over Rs 2 lakh once they repaid the amount above the Rs 2,00,000 limit. However, the ground reality presents a contradictory picture. Agriculture officials said 8,195 farmers eligible for loan waiver of over Rs 2 lakh had been identified in Mancherial district. However, the waiver has not been implemented yet. As a result, the beneficiaries are forced to wait for the government to credit the funds to their accounts. Similarly, in Nirmal district, 6,822 beneficiaries of the crop loan waiver are yet to benefit from the initiative.
Officials said that around 25,000 farmers in the district have taken crop loans of more than Rs 2 lakh. A total of 13,343 farmers have applied for the waiver. Their wait is still on. Incidentally, around 170 farmers of Walegaon village in Bhainsa mandal claimed that they were denied the waiver due to unknown reasons. They submitted a memorandum to Collector Abhilasha Abhinav recently requesting her to take steps to consider their names for the loan waiver. The farmers’ families availed a total benefit of about Rs 4 lakh. However, none of the family members benefitted from the initiative. Officials said that the waiver of crop loans above Rs 2 lakh is getting delayed due to re-verification of beneficiaries. “Most of the beneficiaries have been found to be government employees and they are from the higher income group. The amount will be credited to the accounts of the genuine beneficiaries after the re-verification process is completed,” the official said. It is worth noting here that in Mancherial district, 55,778 farmers have benefited from crop loan waiver worth Rs 462 crore in three phases. In Nirmal district, a total of 64,742 farmers have come under the ambit of this initiative so far. The value of crop loans waived here in three phases has been estimated at Rs 588 crore.
