CPI (M) leader Tarigami demands KCC loan waiver in Kashmir

CPI (M) leader Mohammad Yousuf Tarigami Wednesday demanded a one-time waiver of Kissan Credit Card loan of small farmers and fruit growers in Kashmir whose crops were damaged by recent snowfall.

The scale of relief announced under the state-specific special natural calamity for damaged orchards due to snowfall is quite inadequate given the quantum of destruction, Tarigami told a workers' convention in Kulgam.

The former MLA from Kulgam said, besides huge damage to the crop, the snowfall caused massive damage to fruit trees.

"The mainstay of the Kashmir economy horticulture is in shambles. The need is to announce one-time waiver of KCC loan to the small farmers and fruit growers whose harvest was damaged by the snowfall, besides the implementation of Crop Insurance Scheme (CIS) in the state," he said.

Tarigami said, though the announcement of the crop insurance scheme was made by the government, it is unfortunate that it has not been implemented in Kashmir so far.

"It becomes an obligation for the government to come to the support and succour of the farmers and orchardists as they form the backbone of the state's economy and have always been suffering on account of weather vagaries," he said.