Long wait for loan waiver

HYDERABAD: Farmers in Telangana may have to wait for a few months more to avail of the much-publicised waiver scheme for agricultural loans. Though the state government has instructed officials to obtain data on farmers' loans from banks, the latter have failed to provide the info as they are yet to compute the details on the borrowings.
Officials have given 15 days to banks to complete the task of providing information on the loans taken.But the banks are finding it difficult as officials want the details to be given in a prescribed format, which include the names of borrowers, their addresses and extent of land held by them, besides the amounts borrowed.
To ensure compliance, Mahbubnagar district additional joint collector Rajaram has even warned that penal action would be initiated against bankers if they failed to provide the details within the stipulated time. He also recommended action against the banker at the branch of a nationalized bank in Kothlabad.
Another hurdle in the entire process is the fact that there is no parity between the data available with the banks and the revenue authorities. For instance, the Mahbubnagar district officials had earlier notified that 6.31 lakh farmers will benefit from the loan waiver scheme, which would cost them Rs 2,776 crore. But later, they slashed the list to 6.03 lakh beneficiaries.
Also, social audit officers have found that some of the farmers who borrowed loans do not own lands. In mandals like Nawabpet, several farmers who had borrowed money do not figure in the bank list.
Farmers get antsy
Meanwhile, fearing that banks may not include their names in the list of beneficiaries, thousands of farmers have been queuing up outside nationalized and cooperative banks across Telangana to personally verify their details. With large crowds jostling for attention, the police are having a tough time in maintaining law and order. The situation seems to be slipping out of hands in Mahbubnagar district, which is known for its perennial drought conditions, high rate of farmer suicides and migration of agricultural workers to big cities in search of livelihood.