Andhra Pradesh   

Interest on farmers' crop loans waived

Special Correspondent

HYDERABAD: Interest amounting to Rs. 1,436 crore accruing till June 2006 on crop loans taken by farmers from cooperative societies and banks in 16 districts has been waived under the just-announced Central agriculture package.

Also, the package places a two-year moratorium on repayment of the principal (Rs. 9,000 crore). Farmers can remit the amount in instalments. They will get fresh loans amounting to a whopping Rs. 73,000 crore over the next three years.

Hereafter, the family of a farmer who commits suicide will receive Rs. 50,000 as ex gratia in addition to Rs. 1.5 lakh to be paid by the State Government.

Suicide-hit districts

These are part of the Rs. 9,650-crore package offered to Andhra Pradesh. "A lion's share is but quite natural as Andhra Pradesh accounted for 16 out of 31 districts identified as suicide-hit," Chief Minister Y. S. Rajasekhara Reddy said on Saturday.

These districts were identified on the basis of the high incidence of suicides by farmers. They are: Anantapur, Kadapa, Kurnool, Chittoor, Nellore, Mahabubnagar, Warangal, Karimnagar, Nizamabad, Adilabad, Mahabubnagar, Ranga Reddy, Medak, Nalgonda, Khammam, Prakasam, Guntur and Krishna.

Announcing details of the package at a press conference here, Dr. Reddy said it would ensure a heavy infusion of new funds for farmers. He thanked the Prime Minister for immediately fulfilling the promise made by UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi at Kadapa.

He said irrigation and other agriculture-allied sectors would get a never-before boost now. Irrigation alone would get Rs. 5,789 crore facilitating completion of several pending projects. Likewise, there was provision for seed replacement (Rs. 470 crore), watersheds and check dams (Rs. 960 crore).

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