Kerala seeks Rs 8000 crore debt-waiver benefit


Kerala has apprised the Central Government of its claim of about Rs 8000 crore from the Rs 60,000 crore-debt-waiver scheme announced by Union Finance Minister P.Chidambaram.

The amount pertains to loans availed of by farmers from commercial banks, co-operative institutions and rural banks alone.

If the loans benefited by farmers from private financiers are reckoned, the amount would further go up. Also, nothing is heard further about the announcement made by Union Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar that loans taken by fishermen and dairy farmers would also be written off.

The co-operative sector alone accounts for Rs 2,970 crore of the loans taken by farmers which should be compensated by the Centre as per the latest bonanza.

The State government received the letter seeking the details of the loan amounts on March 10. It was mentioned that the details should be furnished by March 14.

Therefore a high-level meeting was convened on Friday to take stock of the situation and furnish the reply. Short-term loans from the co-operative sector amounted to Rs 2,710 crore and long-term loans Rs 260 crore. Rural banks had extended loans amounting to Rs 586 crore and agricultural development bank Rs 212 crore in this category. It is estimated that the loans given away by the commercial banks in the state would be between Rs 3,500 crore and Rs 4,000 crore. The details in this regard should be submitted to the Central Government by the Reserve Bank of India.

The State government has sought to extend the benefits to agricultural workers, farmers who have paid up the loans as also those who got the loans rescheduled…O J