BANGALORE: The loan waiver scheme announced by the Government may not bring immediate relief to those farmers who have borrowed more than Rs. 25,000.

While farmers who have taken a loan of Rs. 25,000 from cooperative banks during 2006 need not repay it, those who borrowed more than Rs. 25,000 have to repay the entire amount before the May 31 deadline.

Minister for Cooperation G.T. Deve Gowda told presspersons here on Thursday that if farmers who had taken a loan exceeding Rs. 25,000 in 2006 repaid the amount by May 31, the benefit would be in the form of a fixed deposit of Rs. 25,000 at four per cent interest placed by the Government in their name for a period of three years in the same cooperative institution.

Only 16 per cent of farmers who had borrowed more than Rs. 25,000 had repaid the principal till now, he said.

The Minister said 6.39 lakh farmers had taken loans up to Rs. 25,000, amounting to Rs. 942.37 crore, from cooperatives in 2006 and 4.05 lakh farmers had borrowed more that Rs. 25,000, amounting to Rs. 1,055 crore.

He said the decision to waive interest on medium- and long-term loans would benefit 43,000 farmers (Rs. 2.60 crore) and 5.66 lakh farmers who had defaulted on loans (Rs. 35 crore).

Mr. Gowda said the loan waiver scheme would benefit 16.68 lakh farmers, weavers and fishermen. It would cost the exchequer Rs. 2,535.47 crore. During the kharif season, cooperatives in the State were prepared to disburse loans totalling Rs. 1,500 crore to 12 lakh farmers.

The Government's scheme would help cooperatives recover Rs. 725 crore. A sum of Rs. 500 crore had already been released to the cooperatives towards reimbursement for the loan waiver scheme. A sum of Rs. 516 crore obtained from auctioning of encroached land in and around Bangalore city would also be given to the cooperative institutions, Mr. Gowda said.

He said the department had filed criminal cases against 96 secretaries of cooperative societies in Kolar district charged with misappropriation of funds. No cooperative bank in the State would be wound up, he said.

Printer friendly page  
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail