Uttarakhand CM Harish Rawat seeks 6-month exemption for farmers from payment of loan interest

DEHRADUN: Uttarakhand Chief Minister Harish Rawat has asked the Centre to send a team to the state to assess the damage done to crops by unseasonal rains and exempt the farmers from paying interest on their loans taken from nationalised banks for the next six months.
In separate letters written to Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley and Union Agriculture Minister Radha Mohan Singh, Rawat spoke of the plight of farmers in the state in view of the damage done to their crops by unseasonal rains.

He apprised them of steps taken by the state government to give them relief including a six-month moratorium on recovery of revenue and irrigation dues from them besides a waiver of electricity surcharge and interest on their loans taken from cooperative banks.

Seeking similar relief from the Centre, Rawat said if they are exempted by the Centre from paying interest on their loans taken from nationalised banks for the next six months with effect from April 1 to September 30 it will be a major respite for them.

Putting the interest on agricultural loans taken by Uttarakhand farmers from the nationalised banks at worth Rs 950 crore, he said the Centre can pay this amount as a relief measure for farmers of the state.

He requested Jaitley to take a call on this issue at the earliest considering Uttarakhand's uneven geography.

Rawat also sought funds from the Centre for centrally sponsored schemes in the proportion of 90:10 as it used to get in the past being a special category state.

Changing this proportion to 50:50 or 75:25 is detrimental to the interests of the state, he said.

In a separate letter to Agriculture Minister Radha Mohan Singh, Rawat cited an estimate by the state government according to which unseasonal rains and hailstorms have damaged 51 to 69 per cent of crops across Uttarakhand this year.

He also requested Singh to send a team of experts from Delhi to assess the extent of damage to crops by bad weather in the hill state and take measures to provide relief to farmers.

Giving district wise break up of damages to crops, Rawat in his letter to Singh said crops in Udhamsingh Nagar district have suffered 63 per cent damage, Nainital- 57 per cent, Almorah-51 per cent, Bageshwar per cent, Pithoragarh 60 per cent, Champawat 53 per cent, Haridwar 69 per cent ,Pauri 56 per cent , Tehri 60 per cent, Uttarkashi 55 per cent, Rudraprayag 55 per cent, Chamoli 55 per cent and Dehradun 61 per cent.