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HYDERABAD, March 26

THERE has been no forcible collection of farmers dues and efforts are on to extend the recently announced rebate of 5 per cent amounting to Rs 81.61crore, according to the State Minister for Cooperation, Mr Ch Ramachandra Rao.

The Minister said efforts are on to come up with a one-time settlement (OTS) of farmers' dues especially in the areas which have been adversely affected by drought conditions.

During a discussion on demands for agriculture and allied subjects in the Legislative Assembly, Mr Vivekananda Reddy, a member of Opposition Congress-I, appealed to the Government to hike the budget to the farm sector since 30 per cent of the people in these areas are below the poverty line and all of them are fully dependent on the agriculture sector.

Highlighting the status of the cooperative banks in the State, Mr Rao said the Andhra Pradesh Cooperative Bank Ltd. (APCOB), the apex bank for cooperatives, had total dues of Rs 4,525 crore and the District Cooperative Central Banks have piled up dues of Rs 5,952 crore. While this being the case, the deposits in APCOB are estimated at Rs 1,300 crore and about Rs 2,615 crore in the case of District Cooperative Central Banks. Alongside this, the non performing assets (NPAs) of APCOB are estimated at about 24.65 per cent and 21.16 per cent in case of the District Cooperative Central Banks.

The Minister said the elections to various cooperative institutions would be held shortly. These elections were long overdue and their term had actually ended in 2000. The delay was also due to an amendment brought about to the Cooperative Act that incorporated certain changes relating to the minimum standing of members for voting rights.

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No forcible collection of farm dues: AP Minister

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