BENGALURU: The wait to get 'debt-free' certificates is getting longer for farmers who would benefit from the crop loan waiver scheme of the state government. The process will be started in January, Chief Minister HD Kumaraswamy said here on Tuesday. The state government had earlier promised to start issuing the certificates in November, and then deferred it to December.
“We will issue the debt-free certificates in January. The process will be launched on January 8 in Sedam and Doddaballapur taluks, which have been chosen as pilot taluks to implement the farm loan waiver. It will be started in other places too later,” Kumaraswamy announced.
Expressing displeasure at the Modi government for not coming to the rescue of indebted farmers, Kumaraswamy said, “We had approached the Union government twice with a request to share 50 per cent of the financial burden, to waive farm loans availed through nationalised banks, but the Union government did not consider our request.”
He reiterated his government's commitment to fulfil its assurance on farm loan waiver on its own resources. "I've provided `6,500cr for the purpose in this year's budget. There is no shortage of funds. The process of tabulation of details of loan waiver beneficiaries is on, and this is taking time," he said.A team led by the Commissioner of Land Records and Survey Settlements has developed a software especially for the loan waiver scheme, and to speed up the process and ensure transparency.
Nationalised banks have provided details of loan accounts which have been uploaded in the software. After banks complete verification of information, farmers will be asked to visit the respective banks where they had taken loans, and furnish documents, besides their Aadhaar card, ration card and details of land they own. In the cooperative sector, the verification of 20 lakh loan accounts is under progress in 6,000 branches, which is expected to be completed by the month-end.Deputy commissioners have been appointed nodal officers for implementation of this scheme.