NCP demands waiver of all agricultural loan in Orissa

Bhubaneswar, Dec 24 (UNI) The Orissa unit of the Nationalist Congress Party(NCP)today demanded waiver of all outstanding agricultural loan pending against the farmers in the state.

The recent suicide of a farmer in Jamankira block in Sambalpur district for non-payment of his agricultural loan is an indication of a serious situation prevailing situation in the state, NCP state Coordinator Bijaya Mohapatra told newsmen here.

Mr Mohapatra said Rama Chandra Rana of Kusuli village committed suicide on December 17 last after he received a red letter from the Kulandi Cooperative Society to repay his loan amounting to Rs.15,615 within a week.

The panicked farmer after receiving the letter from the society had left the village on December 14 last and committed suicide on December 17 last.

Holding the state government responsible for the suicide of the farmers, Mr Mohapatra said the government should stop all coersive measures adopted to collect the outstanding loan from the farmers who were in distress following serious crop loss this year.

The state government, he said, should come out with a white paper on the outstanding loan pending with the farmers in the state and waive them in a bid to prevent more farmers from committing suicide or starving to death.

Mr Mohapatra said since the government has been making tall claims for the welfare of the farmers, it should first waive all the outstanding loans which in no case would be more than Rs 400 crore.

NCP leader Ashok Das, who visited the Kusuli village along with Mr Mohapatra, said the farmers in the village had purchased high breed certified seed from the block which proved to be spurious.

They demanded that all outstanding loan pending with Ramchandra Rana should be immediately waived as his family members were now virtually starving.

UNI