Kerala - Thiruvananthapuram

Minister denies charges on farm debt relief panel

Revenue Minister K.P. Rajendran

Thiruvananthapuram: Revenue Minister K.P. Rajendran on Monday denied Opposition allegations that the government had failed to implement the Kerala Farmers’ Debt Relief Commission’s recommendations.

Replying to a debate on the Kerala Farmers’ Debt Relief Commission (Amendment) Bill, which was later referred to the Subject Committee, Mr. Rajendran said the government had distributed Rs.19 crore as relief, including Rs.14.42 crore in Wayanad district. He said that the Cabinet had considered the issue in its entirety and not merely the commission’s recommendation. He said that the commission was functioning effectively, disposing of 13,758 applications.

It had recommended relief in 4,968 cases in Wayanad and 3,227 in Idukki. The amounts had been paid to the respective banks which later released the title deeds to the farmers.

Intervening in the debate, Cooperation Minister G. Sudhakaran informed the House that the State’s loss on account of the Central government’s farm loan waiver scheme was Rs.200 crore, covering farmers who had either paid-off their loans or rescheduled it as part of the Cooperative Department’s revenue recovery programme. The Revenue Minister said that the commission was continuing its sittings in various districts and the government would announce the relief schemes as soon as it got recommendations.

He said that out of the four lakh applications received by the commission, the Central loan waiver scheme covered half of them. The rest were related to non-agriculture loans for which guidelines had been issued.

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