BENGALURU: Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on Thursday said despite NABARD (National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development) reducing the concessional interest rate loan limit from Rs 5,600 crore in the previous fiscal to Rs 3,236.11 crore this year, ie. by 42.21%, Karnataka has achieved 96.07% in loan disbursement to farmers.
Reviewing the progress of the cooperative department at his home office, he informed that Rs 25,939.09 crore agricultural loans have been disbursed to 29,75,598 farmers in 2024-25.
The state has set a target of disbursing loans of Rs 28,000 crore to 37 lakh farmers in the current fiscal and Rs 8,362.68 crore has been disbursed to 8,69,284 farmers by July-end, he added.
He instructed officials to ensure that farmers get agricultural loans on time. As many as 28,516 cooperative societies in the state are in profit whereas 14,670 societies, including 2,200 milk producer societies, were in loss due to improper loan recovery and steps should be taken to recover the loans, the CM said.
He insisted that the expenditure of milk producer cooperative societies should be monitored. “It is the responsibility of the secretaries of the societies to increase milk production. Action should be taken for the revival of milk producer cooperative societies,” he said.
Siddaramaiah asked officials to submit a proposal to fill 126 posts of senior inspectors and 403 posts of inspectors in cooperative societies. He also insisted on speeding up the computerisation of services under the jurisdiction of the Office of the Registrar of Cooperative Societies.
As many as 7,074 pawnbroker institutions and 1,468 chit fund companies in the state are registered under the Karnataka Moneylenders Act, 1961, Karnataka Pawnbrokers’ Act, 1961, and Card Funds Act, 1982, and those operating illegally should be regulated, he said.
Sahitya parishat membership
Chief Minister Siddaramaiah has given a clear-cut instruction to officials of the cooperation department to take legal action against the cancellation of the membership of the Kannada Sahitya Parishat at a time when the investigation on irregularities is in progress.
“The Deputy Registrar of Cooperative Societies (DRCS) has been investigating the irregularities in the sahitya parishat. While the investigation is under way, complaints have been received that the parishat is cancelling the membership of some members,” he noted.