KALABURAGI: Karnataka government will examine the proposal to waive off the farm loans taken by the farmers from cooperative societies/banks, said Chief Minister Siddaramaiah here on Wednesday.
Speaking with press persons after participating in the Kalyana Karnataka Utsava here, the chief minister said that most of the districts of the State have received excess rains and as per the initial reports, farmers have suffered heavy crop loss.
Some of the organisations have requested the government to waive off the farm loans taken by the farmers from cooperative societies /banks.
The government would examine the proposal.
According to the sources, previously B. S. Yeddyurappa Government and the Kumarswamy government have waived off farm loans of around Rs. 8.500 crore.
Waiving off the loans would be done to the individual beneficiaries, and it would not be done taking into consideration of the crop loss.
The crop loan was waived off previously to the tune of overdues, the sources said.
The government would take the decision of waiving off crop loans only after considering the pros and cons, and the burden on the government, the sources said.
Answering a question, the Chief Minister said that after the receipt of the joint survey by different districts, the government would submit the memorandum to the Union government requesting the release of the compensation.
When his attention was drawn to the allegations of the union government that the Karnataka government had submitted the request for payment of the compensation by making a delay last year, the chief minister denied it and said that the Karnataka government submitted the memorandum at the right time.
He recalled that Karnataka only got the share of compensation from Union Government after approaching the Supreme Court.
Later the Chief Minister visited a field at Fartabad of Kalaburagi taluk, where the Tur crop was destroyed due to heavy rains in the last two months.
The field of 27 acres and 23 guntas coming under survey No: 50 of Fartabad village jointly owned by farmers Chennabasappa and Suryakant and they cultivated Red-Gram in the entire 27 acres and 23 guntas.
The chief minister saw that the crop was completely destroyed due to the heavy rains. Kalaburagi district in-charge minister Priyank Kharge, KKRDB President Dr. Ajay Singh and Kalaburagi Deputy Commissioner briefed about the crop loss due to heavy rains in the district.
President of Jilla Krishika Samaj Sidramappa Dangapur told the chief minister that the farmers have cultivated Tur three times as there were heavy rains.
But all the crops, including Tur, Green-gram and black gram, have been badly affected due to the rains. He urged the chief minister to pay the crop loss compensation immediately and to give subsidies on the seeds and fertilisers for the Rabi season.
The Chief Minister told the farmers that as soon as the rains stopped, the officials of the revenue, agriculture and horticulture departments would jointly conduct a final survey, and after the receipt of the joint survey report, the government would take steps for the payment of compensation.