Farm loans to the tune of Rs. 112 crore have been disbursed to 19,148 farmers through cooperative societies in the district so far, said Edappadi K. Palaniswami at Konganapuram near here on Saturday.
The first government order the Chief Minister signed after assuming office for yet another term was waiving off the farm loans the farmers took from cooperative societies.
This helped 81,224 farmers in the district who had borrowed Rs. 399.27 crore from cooperative societies. Mr. Palaniswami was speaking at a function organised by the Konganapuram Primary Agricultural Cooperative Society to handover loans to farmers.
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The government’s target was to sanction Rs. 383 crore as loans to farmers of the district through cooperative societies during the current year. Of which Rs. 112 crore had already been disbursed, he added.
The list of the fresh beneficiaries included 7,849 small and marginal farmers, whose earlier borrowings were waived through the Chief Minister’s order. These farmers got Rs. 47.38 crore as loans again.
Mr. Palaniswami said that due to the decision of the Centre to scrap Rs. 500 and Rs. 1,000 currency, cooperative societies were not able to farm loans, or jewellery loans to farmers. The farmers could not repay the loan dues on time, and were unable to procure fertilizer.
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Following this, the Chief Minister ordered granting of farm loans to farmers through the central cooperative banks, the Minister added.
The Minister handed over cheques to the tune of Rs. 1.54 crore sanctioned by 41 Salem District Central Cooperative Banks to 331 farmers.
V. Sampath, District Collector, presided over the function.
S. Raja, S. Vetrivel, and P. Manonmani, all MLAs; G. Rajendraprasad, Joint Registrar of Cooperative Societies; participated in the function.