Date:01/06/2008 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2008/06/01/stories/2008060155140600.htm

Andhra Pradesh

Loan waiver: Guntur ryots to benefit 25 p.c. more

Staff Reporter

Modalities explained to all cooperative banks: GDCC official

List of eligible people will be put up in all bank branches
Beneficiaries eligible for
fresh loans

GUNTUR: Farmers in Guntur district will benefit by a margin of 25 per cent along with 15 other districts in Andhra Pradesh in agriculture loan waiver, where the Vidharbha Package of Central Government will be implemented.

At a press conference here on Saturday, Guntur District Cooperative Central Bank General Manager B. Viswanath said that modalities of implementing the debt relief and debt waiver had been explained to all the cooperative banks, private commercial banks and the scheduled banks that lend agriculture loans had been asked to complete the process of identifying the beneficiaries and putting out a list by June 30.

List of eligible people would be put up in all bank branches on time and the Primary Agriculture Cooperative Thrift Societies and the copies of the modalities of implementation with eligibility criteria would be put up from Sunday at all PACTS offices and GDCC Bank branches for the farmers to have a look in Telugu and English.

Fresh loans

Debt waiver was for Marginal and Small farmers owning 5 acres and 2.5 acres respectively and debt relief was for all other categories of farmers. All loans disbursed up to March 31, 2007 and overdue by December 31, 2007 and not paid by February 29 would be eligible for this benefit. No interest would be charged on any kind of loan from February 29 to June 30.

Those benefitting out of this scheme would become immediately eligible for fresh crop and Long Term loans, Mr. Viswanath said.

Condition for eligibility was interest should not have surpassed principal amount and all loans disbursed prior to March 31, 1997 will not be eligible for the loan waiver or relief scheme, he clarified. Those farmers in the allied fields like fishing, goat, sheep rearing, poultry or dairy would be eligible for a loan waiver of up to Rs.50,000. Those in the other farmers category would get a loan relief up to 25 per cent of the outstanding and the remaining can be paid in three instalments to be eligible for fresh loans.

Under Vidharbha Package Rs.20,000 or 25 per cent of the loan amount (whichever is higher) would be the eligibility criteria.

Those having any doubt could call the General Manager over phone No. 9848389627 for clarification.