Karnataka - Madikeri   

Don’t discriminate on loan waiver: Kodagu coffee growers

Seeking action: Members of the Kodagu Growers’ Federation staging a dharna in front of the office of the Deputy Commissioner in Madikeri on Friday.

MADIKERI: Coffee growers, under the banner of Kodagu Growers’ Federation, on Friday staged a dharna in front of the Deputy Commissioner’s office here demanding waiver of loan and interest on it.

Working president of the federation Katti Mandaiah said that the Centre had waived loans and interest only for growers with holdings of five acres or less. For those having over five acres of plantations, only Rs. 25,000 was waived. All growers within 25-acre holdings were in the small growers’ category in Kodagu district and the complete loan waiver must be extended to them also, Mr. Mandaiah said.

The federation urged the Centre to consider loans for construction of godowns, drying yards and for buying implements for cultivation as crop loan. Those, who had cleared the loans, should also get the benefit of loan waiver, he said.

When industrialists got concessions, why should the coffee growers be left out? Mr. Mandaiah asked. The Centre should stop auctioning property of the growers who failed to repay loans in time. The pending court cases against the growers must be withdrawn, he demanded.

Mr. Mandaiah urged Deputy Commissioner K.R. Niranjan to instruct tahsildars to issue coffee registration certificates (CRCs), which would enable them to get loans from banks.

The Revenue Department had not yet resumed issuing CRCs even after a month of revocation of the conditions in the revenue circulars by the Government, he alleged. Panathale Vishwanath, president of the Madikeri taluk unit of the federation, said the move of banks to force the growers to repay loans was forcing them to resort to extreme steps.

A sum of Rs. 18 crore, which had come to the Deputy Commissioner’s account for relief to the growers for crop loss in last year’s rains, had not been distributed, he alleged.

Pandanda Naresh, a member from Napoklu, urged the Headquarters Assistant to the Deputy Commissioner, Chikkathimmaiah, to request the Government to release more kerosene to Kodagu district.

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