Hyderabad: A protest was staged on Monday, September 23, by farmers at Wardhannapet in Warangal district over the delay in providing farm loans and accusing the management of the State Bank of India (SBI) of non-cooperation.
The protest was conducted outside the bank leading to a traffic jam.
“The officials are leaving their offices every 10 minutes. There is nobody who can help us. Every time we visit the bank the officials ask us to wait and then there is no progress,” complained a farmer, adding that there are only two counters available for granting farm loans and hence loans are not waived.
As per the loan waiver scheme, loans worth Rs 2 lakh will be waived. While the government claims farmers have been freed from debt burden by waiving off Rs 31,000 crore farm loans; several farmers continue to protest as they face difficulties to secure loans.
| Category of Accounts | Number of Accounts |
| Loan accounts with 11 or 13-digit Aadhaar numbers | 1,20,000 |
| Cases with different names in Aadhaar and loan | 1,61,000 |
| Accounts with errors in details provided by bankers | 1,50,000 |
| Accounts with no ration cards | 4,83,000 |
| Accounts with loans over Rs 2 lakh | 8,00,000 |
State civil supplies minister N Uttam Kumar Reddy explained that farmers having a loan of more than Rs 2 lakhs would have to pay. For example, a farmer having a debt of Rs 2,30,000 would have to repay Rs 30,000 first; after which the government would waive off the remaining loan of Rs 2 lakhs.
In cases related to those who haven’t received their pattadar passbooks due to Dharani-related issues, the mandal agricultural officer (MAO) will verify and the benefit of the doubt will be given to the farmer who has availed a loan for cultivation, the minister said.
The minister further said that, unlike the previous BRS government, a system for grievance redressal has been set up to address loan issues. “In 2018, loans were waived off for 2,26,000 accounts to the tune of Rs 1,400 crore which was returned to then BRS government. However, no steps were taken to clear loans later,” Uttam Kumar said.
The civil supplies minister also said that between 2014 and 2018, the BRS government had waived loans in four phases, totalling Rs 16,000 crore. “BRS did not disburse any funds for the loan waiver until 2021 when it released only Rs 408 crore,” he said.
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