Crop loans of 15.24 lakh farmers waived: Minister

This amounts to Rs. 3,611 crore, says Puttaswamy

The State government has waived crop loans amounting to Rs. 3,611 crore, taken by around 15.24 lakh farmers from cooperative banks in the State, Minister for Cooperation B.J. Puttaswamy has said.

In the eight districts of Mysore division, loans of over 2.93 lakh farmers, amounting to Rs. 745.29 crore were waived, he said.

The loan waiver was announced following drought in the State.

Reimbursement

Addressing presspersons here on Tuesday after chairing a departmental meeting, Mr. Puttaswamy denied allegations that banks had not been reimbursed for the waiver. The government had released the money and banks that had not claimed the reimbursement had been asked to furnish the documents required by November 7, he said.

Loans

The Minister said crop loan amounting to Rs. 3,505 crore had been released in the last six months. Of this, 90.3 per cent was to small and marginal farmers — nearly 7.46 lakh of them.

Of 8,457 credit cooperative societies in the State, 8,005 were active, 71 had their operations suspended and 381 had been liquidated, he said. Among the active societies, only 4,630 were making a profit. Criminal cases would be filed against “erring” societies in the next three months, he added.

According to the Minister, auditing of 80.57 per cent of societies had been done, including all in Dakshina Kannada, Udupi and Kodagu districts. This would help in maintaining their efficiency, he said.