BHUBANESWAR: Bharatiya Janata Krushak Morcha, the farmers’ wing of BJP, on Thursday staged a protest march here on Thursday over its twin demands of farm loan waiver and interest-free loan to farmers. The State unit of BJP Krushak Morcha announced to hold similar rallies in all district headquarters of Odisha on Friday. A memorandum addressed to Governor SC Jamir will be submitted to district Collectors, State BJP spokesperson Golak Mohapatra said.
Even as Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik had assured farmers of Bargarh and Puri to consider the demand of farm loan waiver in April, the State Government is yet to take a decision on the issue.
Meanwhile, States like Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh and Karnataka have announced to waive loan of farmers. The Krushak Morcha will intensify stir across the State till the demands are met, Mohapatra said.
National vice-president of BJP Krushak Morcha Maheswar Sahu, who led the protest march here, said the large number of suicides by farmers are mainly due to loan burden and crop failure. The farmers who had suffered huge loss due to crop failure in 2015 have not repaid their loan which is mounting.
Odisha Government has failed to take drought proofing measures in the last 17 years which has resulted in increased farmers’ suicide in the State.
This shows the Government’s attitude towards farmers and this will not be tolerated any more, he said.
Official sources said about `23,000 crore farm loan is due from nearly 35 lakh farmers. Out of this, `13,000 crore has remained unpaid to different cooperative credit structures while the remaining `10,00 crore is owed to commercial banks.
Agriculture Minister Damodar Rout courted controversy recently for questioning the rationality of waiving farm loans as most of the loanee farmers utilised the loan to marry off their daughters and to consume alcohol.Rout, who has been maintaining that farmers of the State are resilient and do not commit suicide for crop failure, had further said loan waiver will benefit actual farmers as sharecroppers have not been identified.