Farm loan waiver process will be completed by July end: Bandeppa Kashempur

Belagavi: Minister for cooperation Bandeppa Kashempur on Friday, December 14 assured that about 22,38,000 farmers who availed crop loans from cooperative banks will get loan-closure certificates by July end and the waiver process would be completed by that time.

Bandeppa Kashempur replying to a question by senior JD(S) member, Maritibbe Gowda during question hour in the Legislative Council here, informed that there is no pressure on farmers in the state to repay loans, be it in the co-operative or any other sector.

He further added that the BJP member’s allegations on this issue are baseless because nobody is forcing farmers of this state to repay their loans.

“No farmer is being troubled over non-repayment of his or her loan. The truth is that the co-operative banks have already started issuing them fresh loans knowing that their present loans will be waived off up to Rs 1 lakh as promised by the Chief Minister,” said  Bandeppa.

He also revealed that the co-operation department had already received Rs 800 crore from the state government towards the waiver.

BJP leaders who were not satisfied with the explanation given by Bandeppa continued to demand that the state government waive farm loans given by the Primary Co-operative Agricultural and Rural Development (PICARD) Banks too.

Responding to the demand of  BJP leaders Bandeppa said that the government is thinking about it, as the PICARD banks play an essential role in providing loans to farmers for equipment like tractors.