Over 20 lakh AP ryots to get ex-gratia: YSR

Hyderabad, June 4 (UNI) Over 20 lakh farmers in Andhra Pradesh who have not come under the Centre's over Rs 70,000 crore loan waiver scheme will be provided an ex-gratia of Rs 5,000 each by the State Government, Chief Minister Y S Rajasekhara Reddy said today.

The State Government would incur about Rs 1,000 crore to Rs 1,100 crore for providing relief to small and marginal farmers who had repaid their farm loans promptly mobilising funds from other sources, he told mediapersons here.

The Union Government's loan waiver scheme benefited 82 lakh farmers in the state to the tune of Rs 1,300 crore to Rs 1,400 crore after the Centre modified the conditions to cover even big farmers in ''distressed'' districts.

Public Sector Banks would pay the ex-gratia through the rural branches during next month's loan waiver mela, he added.

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