Chief Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy has said that the government will soon issue an order on the guidelines to waive crop loans to the tune of ₹49,000 crore. He has asked officials to implement the agricultural loan waiver scheme in a transparent manner.
He was addressing a conference of Deputy Commissioners and Chief Executive Officers here on Monday.
The Opposition BJP took out a padayatra from Ramanagaram to Bengaluru last week demanding total waiver of farm loans. Several farmers expressed their ire over the delay in implementing the loan waiver scheme.
In his opening remarks at the two-day conference, he said that Deputy Commissioners have a crucial role to play in implementing the loan waiver scheme and they must beware of middlemen misusing its benefits. He also asked the Deputy Commissioners to submit reports on farmers’ suicides in their districts. In his budget speech on July 5, Mr. Kumaraswamy announced the loan waiver scheme, which will benefit 22 lakh farmers whose loans are less than ₹2 lakh till July 10, 2018. He had resolved to waive farm loans borrowed both from cooperative and nationalised banks.
Noting that development works were hampered during elections, he asked the officers to speed up pending projects. He asked them to focus on development rather than on reports on the longevity of the government. “This government will complete it’s five-year term successfully and no one should doubt it,” he said.
Directing the officers to address grievances of people at the district level, the Chief Minister told DCs and CEOs to take steps to improve facilities at government-run residential schools and hostels. Deputy Chief Minister G. Parameshwara told them to conduct village stay programmes once a month to grasp local issues. Several Ministers and senior-level officials participated in the conference.