Members of the Chitradurga district unit of the Karnataka Rajya Raitha Sangha and Hasiru Sene took out a procession and staged a dharna outside the Deputy Commissioner’s office here on Friday urging the State government to waive loans taken by farmers from various nationalised banks.
The agitators took out the procession from Ambedkar Circle, through the main streets of the city, to outside the Deputy Commissioner’s office. They raised slogans against the State government and the Chief Minister for not taking steps to waive loans taken by farmers even after repeated appeals.
The agitators said that the farmers in the district are in pathetic condition owing to scarcity of rainfall in the last four years even as the groundwater table was depleting. This year, farmers had obtained loans from several nationalised banks in anticipation of good rainfall, but their hopes were dashed owing to monsoon failure. They are now in deep trouble and are finding it very difficult to run their families.
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There are also many instances of farmers committing suicide owing to crop failure and increasing pressure from banks to repay loans. But the State government has not taken any steps to protect the interests of farmers by waiving loans taken from nationalised banks, they said.
The agitators submitted a memorandum to Chief Minister Siddaramaiah through Deputy Commissioner Srirangaiah. They said that the agitation would be intensified if the State government failed to waive loans of farmers soon.