After being accused of withdrawing lakhs of rupees deposited under the loan waiver scheme from the accounts of Karnataka farmers, the state government has decided to waive all eligible farm loans in one go.
Chief Minister HD Kumaraswamy, on Wednesday announced that loans of 2,28,961 farmers amounting to Rs 4,617.31 crore will be released in a single phase across the state. “The money was to be released in two phases but that decision has been changed. So far, several farmers have availed of the scheme and we will release the remaining money in one go and is expected to be complete within the next couple of months,” a spokesperson with the Chief Minister’s Office said.
According to data obtained from the CMO, 2,82,230 farmers are eligible for restructured loan waiver amounting to Rs 2,812 crore; overdue loans amounting to Rs 3,057 crore of 2,76,286 farmers; NPA loans amounting to Rs 965.72 crore of 1,08,136 eligible farmers; and regular loans amounting to Rs 720 crore of 3,11,400 eligible farmers fall under the scheme.
As many as 9,78,052 farmers across the state were considered eligible under the Crop Loan Waiver Scheme. The total cost of the loans was pegged at Rs 8,547 crore of which, Rs 3,930 crore has already been waived, the data suggests.
“Some restricted, overdue and regular loans were already waived. Now the remaining ones will be done in a single phase. Funds amounting to Rs 5,150 crore was released to the Nodal Department earlier when the loans were waived in phase 1. The Department currently has Rs 1,219.83 crore remaining and requires Rs 3,397.48 crore funds to reimburse all eligible farmers, whose loans have not been waived,” the official added.
Earlier in June, the money reimbursed in April to over 13,000 farmers across the state under the scheme was withdrawn. Several farmers were shocked and had alleged that the government had deposited the money only to obtain votes for the Lok Sabha Elections.