Opposition seeks farm loan waiver as drought relief

The opposition Congress and JD(S) in Karnataka legislative assembly on Friday demanded the state government to waive farm loans for the last crop year as the state is facing the worst drought in the last 40 years.

Continuing the debate on drought in the Legislative Assembly, Leader of the Opposition Siddaramaiah and JD(S) floor leader H D Revanna urged the government to waive crop loans borrowed by all farmers as one time relief.

“The state is facing severe drought for the second consecutive year and the farmers are in distress. There is no drinking water in villages and no fodder for cattle. Waiving of crop loans borrowed last year and early settlement of crop insurance amount for farmers for damaged crops would provide some relief to farmers”, they said.

Siddaramaiah said 90 per cent of the sown crops till now have been damaged on account of deficit rainfall. In addition to this, farmers are burdened with continued load-shedding, deletion of 3 million BPL (below poverty line) ration cards, non-release of social security pension amounts, denial of jobs under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme, and non-implementation of drought relief measures have adversely affected the daily life of farmers and the poor, he said.

“If the same situation continues, the farmers are left with no other option but to either indulge in criminal activities or commit suicide,” he said.

He demanded the government to immediately release Rs 5,000 crore to tackle drought.

Revanna said the milk farmers, even after producing record 5.2 million litres of milk, have not been paid for the last seven months. Apart from keeping the arrears of milk producers, the state government has also mismanaged the milk powder stocks by not marketing it when there was a good price. The mikl powder prices have crashed from Rs 180 per kg a few months ago to Rs 120 per kg causing a loss of Rs 60 per kg to the state government. Presently, there is an excess stock of 9,000 tonnes at KMF, he said.

“Who is responsible for the loss caused to KMF? Why the government did not permit the sale of excess milk powder when there was a better price?” he questioned.

He said about 82 per cent of the state has not received rains this year. Apart from waiving farm loans for last year, the government should also extend zero interest farm loans beyond Rs 3 lakh. Presently, the farm loans between Rs 1 lakh and Rs 3 lakh are charged at 1 per cent and above Rs 3 lakh at 13 per cent, he said adding that at least Rs 5 lakh is required to conduct farming.

“Ministers neither conduct review meetings nor visit villages to gather information about dri-nking water and fodder shortage,” he said.

Stating that 151 assembly constituencies in the state are facing drinking water shortage, he demanded the government to spend Rs 2 crore per each constituency immediately.