Karnataka - Belgaum   

Farmers demand benefits of Vidarbha package

Staff Correspondent

Belgaum: After failing to get a positive response to their grievance from the State Government, farmers of Mole village in Athani taluk have urged Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and to consider them for extending benefits under the Vidarbha package.

Sending memorandums to the Prime Minister, Union Minister for Agriculture Sharad Pawar, Regional Manager of Reserve Bank of India, Bangalore, and Congress president Sonia Gandhi, on Wednesday, the farmers led by Kuber Ammanna Kadapure said many growers owned small and marginal land holdings. Their restructured/rephrased agricultural term loans had been not covered under the package. The outstanding loans were older than the overdue accounts.

Quoting banks, he said, the loans were not covered under the package which aimed at giving relief to farmers affected by natural calamities such as floods and drought.

In fact, many loan accounts were 10 to 15 years old, but restructured and rephrased. A loan of Rs. 10,000 taken 15 years ago now stood at Rs. 50,000. That apart, majority of farmers were not aware of the present status of their loan accounts except the outstanding loan amount. They could not repay the loans owing to natural calamities. In fact, many villages in Athani taluk had been facing drought for over three decades, he said. Mr. Kadapure urged the Prime Minister to look into their problems and extend relief to them under the Vidarbha Package.

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