NIZAMABAD/ADILABAD: Former minister Vemula Prashanth Reddy accused Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy of partially implementing the loan waiver scheme due to pressure from the BRS. Speaking at a protest organised by the BRS in Balkonda Assembly constituency on Saturday, Prashanth Reddy said that while the government initially announced that it would need Rs 31,000 crore to implement the loan waiver, only Rs 25,000 crore was allocated in the Budget, and eventually, only Rs 17,900 crore was disbursed.
“It’s absurd to tell farmers to go to the collector’s office if their loans are not waived. Over 22 lakh farmers have been deprived of the loan waiver,” Prashanth Reddy stated during the protest.
Meanwhile, in the erstwhile Adilabad district, farmers whose loans were not waived staged protests on Saturday. In Talamadugu mandal, a large number of farmers from surrounding villages gathered to protest the non-receipt of their crop loan waivers. They organised a “Shav Yatra” (funeral procession) of the chief minister and burnt his effigy. Farmer N Padmakar Reddy said that of the 2,100 farmers in his village, only 600 received the loan waiver, leaving around 1,500 without the benefit. He expressed concerns over the government’s missed deadline of August 15.
In Ponkal village, farmers protested in front of the Maharashtra Bank, alleging negligence by the bank in disbursing the loan waiver amount.
However, Nizamabad Rural MLA R Bhupathi Reddy asserted that the state government had successfully implemented the loan waiver scheme.
Addressing a press conference at the Congress Bhavan, he acknowledged that some eligible farmers did not receive the benefit due to issues such as incorrect land records, outdated bank accounts, and lack of ration cards. He said that the Agricultural department was actively working to resolve these issues.