VIJAYAWADA: “When will the government waive off the crop loans as promised during the election campaign, as agriculture works during kharif season have already started?” questioned Congress leader and former MLA Malladi Vishnu Monday.
Congress members staged a dharna opposite the sub-collector’s office in Vijayawada protesting against the government’s betrayal on farm and DWCRA loan waivers Monday. Speaking at the dharna, Malladi Vishnu flayed chief minister Chandrababu Naidu that there were 460 banks in Krishna district and though they had already started displaying notices to pay old loans to get fresh ones, the government was not taking any action to bail out farmers from this problem.
“There are crop loans to the tune of `2,352 crore and gold loans to the tune of `3,276 crore in Krishna district. If the government’s decision to waive off loans of only `1.5 lakh for each account is implemented, then just `1,278 crore will be waived off in case of crop loans and `74 crore in case of gold loans. The total loan waiver will be about `1,300 crore while total loans are about `5,500 crore. Even on this there is no clarity and assurance when the government will do it,” said Vishnu.
There are a total of 5.5 lakh crop loan and gold loan accounts and 74,000 DWCRA groups in Krishna district. Chandrababu Naidu who promised complete crop and DWCRA loans waiver for coming to power, is putting the lives of lakhs of farmers and women in peril, said Vishnu.
The protest, demanding the loan waiver, the first of its kind and scale in Vijayawada, after the Congress rout, saw the active participation from party leaders and workers from across the district.
“According to PCC instructions, we have carried out this protest as farmers are in distress. We are planning more such protests in future to explain how the TDP government is cheating people,” said Vijayawada city Congress president Adapa Nagendra.
Former MLA Devineni Nehru, district Congress president N Narasimha Rao, farmers leader Kolanukonda Sivaji, City Congress leaders Devineni Avinash, Akula Srinivas and Kadiyala Buchi Babu among others participated in the dharna.