Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) leaders demanded that the State government take immediate steps to waive off small and marginal loans taken by farmers from nationalised banks and cooperative societies as a step towards preventing farmers’ suicides in the State.
Addressing a joint press conference at Yadgir on Saturday, K.B. Shanappa and Raghunath Rao Malkapure, senior leaders and members of the Legislative Council, and Laxman Sawadi, former Minister, accused the State government of not taking any steps though farmers were committing suicide across the State due to debt.
Chief Minister Siddaramaiah should take a delegation of all party leaders to the Union government requesting release of additional compensation to families of farmers who committed suicides, they urged. The leaders also requested the farmers not to take extreme steps and face the situation with optimism.
They told farmers to ignore the notices served by banks on loan repayment and inform the police.
Visiting farmers
Mr. Shanappa said the BJP had formed six teams to visit farmer families across the State and ascertain the reasons behind incidents.
A team led by him would visit Gogi, Mudanur and Machanur villages in the district where three farmers committed suicide in the last two months.
They would also visit Kalaburagi and Bidar districts by Sunday and submit a report to the party leaders in Bengaluru by Monday, Mr. Shanappa said.
He said that due to lack of time, the team would not able to visit Raichur, but added that they would visit the district soon.
