CHENNAI: Leader of Opposition Udhayanidhi Stalin, AIADMK general secretary Edappadi K Palaniswami and farmer organisations on Tuesday criticised the government over its crop loan waiver announcement. Calling the scheme a “massive breach of trust”, Udhayanidhi said TVK had promised a complete crop loan waiver for farmers owning up to five acres, but has now restricted the full waiver to loans of only up to Rs 50,000. “This is an injustice to farmers,” he said, demanding CM Vijay to explain the deviation from the promise made during the election campaign.
Palaniswami said the crop loan waiver was an attempt to divert attention from law and order issues and charges of horse-trading. He said the previous AIADMK government had waived cooperative bank crop loans worth Rs 12,110 crore in 2021, benefiting 16.43 lakh farmers, whereas the present government had announced only Rs 2,044 crore despite promising a full waiver.
He also pointed out that the government has changed the eligibility criteria from landholding to loan amount. The government should not deceive farmers and must fulfil its election promise properly, he said.
PR Pandian, president of the Coordination Committee of All Farmers Associations of Tamil Nadu, said the scheme in its present form would offer little real relief to farmers and urged the government to suspend its implementation.
Around 100 farmers attempted to enter the secretariat ahead of Pandian’s meeting with Revenue Minister KA Sengottaiyan and later alleged that police treated them disrespectfully.
Tamil Nadu Farmers Association general secretary PS Masilamani said fixing the ceiling based on loan amount instead of landholding would exclude many small farmers, as cooperative banks rarely sanctioned large loans to them.
