Pondy: Direction for waiver of agri loans issued

Puducherry, Sep 17: The Puducherry administration will waive agricultural loans to the tune of Rs 15 crore obtained from Cooperative institutions, Chief Minister V Vaithilingam said today.

Talking to newspersons at the PCC office here, he said the administration had issued directions to waive the loans taken from cooperative institutions before October 1, following a representation from agriculturists association president Selvaganapathy.

He said despite an announcement in this regard made on the floor of the Assembly in 2006, it could not be implemented then. Earlier, it was estimated around Rs 28 crore but with the implementation of the central government farm loan waiver scheme, the amount came down to Rs 15 crore.

The administration would reimburse Rs 13 crore to the Cooperative banks while Rs three crore would be adjusted by the bank since, interest and penal interests were levied on the peasants. All farmers, including those left out in the central schemes barring small and micro-farmers would be benefitted under the waiver scheme, he added.

UNI