Most farmers in Telangana did not receive the one lakh rupees crop loan waiver due to negligence and lack of coordination between the Agricultural Department and the banking department. According to the rules, crop loans have a term limit of five years. After that, farmers can reschedule the loan for another five years by paying off the debt and opening a new account.
Many farmers have closed their old accounts and received the loan through new accounts. However, despite the government’s instructions to enter these details in the crop loan waiver website, no action has been taken. As a result, the loan waiver money deposited by the government has gone back to the treasury.
Even when farmers approached banks for information about the loan waiver, they were denied. This has caused worries among farmers, as it is uncertain when the withdrawn loan waiver funds will be returned if the notification for assembly elections is released.
The state government decided to waive off crop loans up to one lakh rupees. The agricultural department collected details from banks using software, based on the cut-off date of April 1, 2014, to December 11, 2018. The loan waiver process started for 42.56 lakh eligible farmers, and so far, the government has deposited around 8 thousand crore rupees in banks for about 17 lakh farmers.
For those farmers who have closed their old accounts and opened new ones, there is a lack of support from the agriculture department. According to banking rules, when a farmer’s crop loan account is closed, banks and agriculture department officials should register a new account. However, there is no edit option available for updating loan waiver accounts on the agriculture department’s website.
Previously, when loans were waived, even if the eligible farmers’ accounts were invalid, the money would be deposited in the banks’ parking account and then paid to the farmers through other means. However, now the cash that was not deposited in loan waiver accounts has gone back to the treasuries, and it is unlikely that the government will send that money again.
This problem could have been avoided if the accounts were updated and information was taken two days before the loan waiver was decided.
