Centre cold shoulders Karunanidhi’s loan waiver scheme

According to the sources, sanctioning such a hefty financial aid could trigger a flurry of similar demands from other states, like Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Gujarat and even Rajasthan.

Karunanidhi recently announced an allocation of Rs 1,000 crore in the current fiscal for cooperative banks in the state. Earlier this month, his government disbursed Rs 100 crores as loans to farmers of Thanjavur and Kumbakonam to start kuruvai (short term paddy) cultivation.

The big job, however, for the Chief Minister is to convince the National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD) about his earnestness to repay Rs 1,700 crores that his government owes and make necessary budgetary allocation for it and avail further refinance.

There is also discontent as only those farmers who have availed of loans from the 4500-odd Primary Agricultural Co-operative Banks (PACBs) at the village-level are to be benefitted from the DMK government’s scheme. Those who took loans worth more than Rs 10,000 crores from nationalised banks lose out on the benefit.