MAHABUBNAGAR: B Veeraswamy, a farmer belonging to Cherlapally village in Jadcherla mandal, took a loan of Rs 1,75,000 from Andhra Bank (now, Union Bank of India) three years ago. On June 22, 2021, he received an SMS stating that Rs 37,500 has been credited into his bank account. However, he soon received another message saying that Rs 40,000 has been deducted from his account.
Upon enquiring at the bank, Veeraswamy came to know that the total of Rs 40,000 that he received as part of Rythu Bandhu and PM Kisan Yojana schemes, was deducted from the account to cover his bank loan.
In addition to this, the bank officials told him that he had to renew his account and that Rs 25,000, which would cover the interest of his loan, would be deducted after renewal. Now he still has to repay Rs 2 lakh loan, while having only Rs 600 left in his account.
“I told them that I would repay the loan in a couple of months. But they made me sign some papers and renewed my loan. I was hoping to buy seeds and fertilisers with the government aid. But now I have no other option but to borrow money from relatives,” he told The New Indian Express.
KTR’s tweet
After noticing reports regarding isolated incidents of bankers withholding input assistance amount, IT Minister KT Rama Rao, via Twitter, requested Collector S Venkata Rao to take a serious view of the matter, on Friday morning. In the SLBC meeting held recently, the government had given clear instructions to bankers not to withhold Rythu Bandhu assistance.
However, there also have been instances where pension amounts of farmers were withheld by some banks to clear earlier crop loans.
Acting upon the Minister’s tweet, the Collector held a videoconference with bankers, coordinators and agriculture officials and reiterated that the government released Rythu Bandhu amounts for welfare of ryots.
Reminding them that farmers could produce 10,000 MT of paddy last season because all financial roadblocks were removed by giving them Rythu Bandhu aid, he directed the banks not to withhold the amount.