Pondy: Rs 60 cr loan to farmers waived off

Puducherry, Oct 25: In a bid to redress the grievances of farmers, who were severly affected by flood and tsunami in the last few years, agricultural loan to the tune of about Rs 60 crore was waived in the Union Territory.

Talking to newspersons here today, Minister for Cooperation M Kandasamy said the loan for farmers from cooperative banks and societies to the tune of Rs 13.81 crore as on March, 2006, was waived by the administration, while another Rs 16.12 lakh was waived under the Central Government scheme.

Besides these, another Rs 13 crore was waived by other banks and the waiver certificate would be issued to the farmers on October 31, he added.

Mr Kandasamy said as many as 4,988 farmers would be benefited.

The farmers were given fresh loans and were urged to make repayment in time, instead of waiting for the Government to waive their loans, he added.

The minister said 3.24 lakhs family card-holders would be given two kgs of free sugar for Diwali and the Government would incur an additional expenditure of Rs 1.20 crore. The shops which had not distributed free sugar so far would be opened tomorrow, he added.

UNI