The second round of farm loan waiver in Telangana after its formation in 2014 has taken off. Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao has announced in this regard in his Independence Day speech on Thursday.

The total outgo this time would be about ₹ 30,000 crore, almost double the amount of ₹ 17,000 crore that the TRS State Government cleared in the first term. The ruling TRS Party, which went to polls five months ahead of its tenure, promised to waive off the loans of farmers up to Rs one lakh in its election manifesto. The cut-off date to finalise the beneficiaries was December 11, 2018.

With the Chief Minister giving the go-ahead, the Finance Department is reportedly looking into the availability of funds for the scheme. The Government would waive off the loans in four phases spread over the next four years as it did in the last term. The Department is expected to prepare modalities for the disbursals soon.

About 46 lakh farmers had taken loans from the banks for input purchases. Of this, about 42 lakh farmers had taken loans under Rs one lakh, the upper limit set for the waiver.

Farmers' unions, however, are upset. They said that the State Government should have begun the process well before the Kharif season to help the farmers buy inputs.

"The farmers require about ₹ 50,000 crore of loans to meet their Kharif input purchases. With the government delaying the loan waiver process, the farmers across the State are forced to depend on private lenders," T Sagar, Secretary of Telangana Rythu Sangham, told Business Line.

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