FARMERS UNDER Bhartiya Kisan Union (Ekta), (Dakunda), have demanded that the loan of small and medium farmers (up to 10 acres) of all kinds, including commission agents, cooperative societies, government and private banks, financial institutions, societies and private financiers be waived with immediate effect.
They raised this demand in a meeting with an expert committee on the promised farm loan waiver, led by Dr T Haque, on Thursday and had also submitted a memorandum with several suggestions pertaining to the farm loan waiver that was promised by the Congress before the polls. In the document, they call quarterly loan, which farmers take for sowing crops, a “spider’s web” as 95 per cent of the farmers only renew the loan every year after paying the interest and this loan sticks to farmer’ families for generations.
“Private financiers and commission agents charged between 18 to 36 per cent annual interest on the loans which compounded even quarterly. This practice is illegal,” said BKU general secretary Jagmohan Singh.
They also sought transparency while extending such loans and the documents of the farmers that are with the financiers/commission agents such as bank cheques, stamp papers, agreements etc. should be deposited with the government, which should own the responsibility for returning of such documents to farmers.
They said farmers’ loans must be waived till date and not just till September 30, 2016. The BKU said subsidy on loan of Rs 3 lakh must be increased to Rs 5 lakh and farmers with more than 10 acres must be given some respite.
