The Andhra Pradesh Rythu Sangham has demanded that the TDP government keep its promises the party had made to the farming community during elections.
Sangham district secretary Y. Kesava Rao on Tuesday said that TDP president and Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu during his electioneering asked farmers not to repay their crop loans with an assurance that his government would waive every rupee borrowed by them. Mr. Naidu promised that his first signature would be on the file pertaining to the loan waiver scheme.
“But, he (Mr. Naidu) constituted a committee to study the loan waiver issues and fixed a 45-day deadline for the panel to submit report. This gesture disappointed farmers as they felt that the government was not sincere in its endeavour to waive crop loans,” he said.
With kharif season round the corner, farmers were in dire need of fresh loans, but bankers were reluctant to sanction new loans owing to the pending dues. In fact, tenant farmers or non-loan farmers would not be benefited from the loan waiver. The government should, therefore, consider providing relief of Rs.10,000 per acre to these farmers, he said.