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Journalism of Courage
Months ahead of the Tamil Nadu Assembly polls, Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami Friday announced a waiver of Rs 12,110 crore of crop loans outstanding in cooperative banks. The move is expected to benefit 16.43 lakh farmers in the state, he said.
Speaking at the state Assembly, Palaniswami said the waiver will be “enforced immediately”, adding that the government will facilitate and ensure cultivation work without obstacles over the course of the year.
Farmers faced travails due to Covid-19, back-to-back cyclones Nivar and Burevi, and unseasonal rains that caused heavy damage to crops ready for harvest, he said.
Palaniswami also took a dig at the DMK, which had promised a similar waiver during the 2019 Parliamentary polls. “DMK forgot the promises soon after it won the polls,” he said.
He said his government has already disbursed relief worth Rs 1,717 crore to more than 16.43 lakh farmers whose crops were affected by the heavy rain in 2019-20.
He added that the government order on the crop loan waiver will be issued soon and financial allocation for the same will be made in the 2021-22 Budget. Palaniswami said it was successive AIADMK governments that played a key role in alleviating farmers’ problems and recalled the late Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa’s decision to waive crop loans worth Rs 5,318 crore after she won the election in 2016.
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