Hyderabad: The State Government today issued elaborate guidelines for implementation of Crop Loan Waiver 2018, for the benefit of farmers. Taking the plight of the farmers into consideration in the State, the Government while giving priority to the Agriculture sector, has waived off the outstanding crop loans of all the farmers in the State as on 31.03.2014.
The Order issued today said that this scheme will cover short term production loans and crop loans against gold disbursed to farmers in the Telangana State by scheduled Commercial Banks, Cooperative Credit Institutions (including Urban Cooperative Banks) and Regional Rural Banks collectively called as the “lending institutions”. The amount eligible for waiver will be up to Rs.one lakh (principal together with applicable interest) per family. The farmer family is defined as the head of family, spouse and dependent children. The eligible amount shall not include Processing charges, legal charges, Insurance, Inspection Charges, etc.
All crop loans sanctioned/ renewed on or after 01.04.2014 and outstanding as on 11.12.2018 are eligible.
The following loans/accounts shall not be eligible under the Crop Loan Waiver Scheme: Advances against pledge or hypothecation of agriculture produce other than standing crop, Tie-up loans, Closed crop loan accounts/Written-off loans, Loans to JLGs/RMGs/LECs, Restructured/Rescheduled Loans.
Short term production loan means a loan given in connection with the raising of crops which is to be repaid within 18 months. It will include working capital loans, for traditional and non-traditional plantation and horticulture crops.
Implementation Guidelines: An IT system /Portal must be developed by Commissioner of Agriculture for collection, processing of the data and finalization of beneficiaries outstanding and eligible amounts for extending the benefit of Crop Loan Waiver to the farmers; Preparation of list of farmers with outstanding crop loan dues and arriving at the amount of claim; Each lending institution (bank branch) which has disbursed short term crop loans to farmers shall prepare a village-wise list of farmers with outstanding crop loan dues as on 11.12.2018 in the prescribed format in Annexure-A as appended to this order, Each lending institution, shall also prepare a village-wise list of farmers who have outstanding dues as on 11.12.2018 in respect of crop loans taken against gold in the rural areas only in the prescribed format in Annexure-B as appended to this order. Gold loans availed from Urban and Metropolitan Banks/Bank branches as crop loans shall not be eligible for a waiver. However, loans availed from the urban/Metropolitan branches, which have rural areas also as their service areas are eligible for loan waiver.
The list of farmers in Annexure-A and Annexure-B should be compared by the Bank Branch Manager and a final list of farmers who have outstanding crop loan and limited to a maximum extent of Rs.1.00 lakh should be prepared by the Bank Branch Manager in the format designed in Annexure-C as appended to this order. One copy of Annexure-A, B, C each should be sent by the Bank Branch Manager to LDM and District Collector.
Some of the farmers might have taken crop loans from more than one bank branch of the same bank or another bank. Hence, for eliminating the duplication/multiple financing and restricting the benefit of loan waiver of Rs.1.00 lakh per farmer family, a Bankers’ meeting at Mandal level will be convened by the JMLBC (Joint Mandal Level Bankers Committee) Convenor. At the JMLBC meeting, all the Banks shall come with the lists of eligible farmers prepared in the proforma as in Annexure-A, B & C prescribed by the Government, and compare the list of farmers in Annexure- C with Annexure- C list of other bank branches in the Mandal belonging to all the other banks (commercial, rural, cooperative). The Mandal Tahsildar will also check all names in Annexure- C of all banks in the Mandal and will verify if there are any fake patted passbooks and also if all loanees have farmlands. After this verification, any false claims will be deleted. Then the farmer family who has availed loans from more than one bank branch will be identified by the JMLBC members. Their details will be recorded by the JMLBC in Annexure- D, as appended to this order. The Co-op. Dept. auditors under the supervision of District Co-op. Audit Officer shall cross verify the A, B, C with D list pertaining to PACs and DCCBs. The DCAO shall allot the auditors to Mandals under his jurisdiction under intimation to the District Collector and also district wise audit report copy must be furnished to the implementation authority. A senior officer not below the rank of Deputy Collector must be nominated by the District Collector as an observer for this meeting. The Annexure-D thus prepared in JMLBC will be shared by all bank branches at the Mandal level.
The Annexure-C furnished by the Bank branches will be scrutinized in the IT portal based on the available databases for establishing the farmer family and multiple loans availed and finally arrive at the Annexure-D (Scrutiny sheet); The Annexure-D (Scrutiny sheet) thus arrived in the IT portal will be circulated to the concerned Bank Branches for comparing the same with their Annexure-D being finalized in the JMLBC meetings for preparing Annexure-E as appended to this order.
If a farmer’s family has multiple accounts but overall standing for crop loan is less than Rs.1.00 lakh, then their names will not be deleted. In case an outstanding crop loan is more than Rs.1.00 lakh, then the waiver amount up to eligible amount (Rs.1.00 Lakh) would be proportionately distributed among the family members and also proportionately distributed among the banks irrespective of the date of sanction.
Annexure-E will be the final list of farmers bank branch wise who will be eligible for loan waiver. This will be prepared by the bank branch manager concerned.
The AEO, VRO, Panchayath Secretary of the Village concerned under the supervision of the Mandal Team comprising of Tahsildhar, MAO and MPDO concerned shall establish the family (as head of the family, spouse and dependent children). The genuineness of farmer shall be established by the above team.
A District Level Bankers meeting will be convened (DCC) by the LDM and district details of loan waiver bank wise, farmer wise will be recorded and sent to SLBC in Annexure-E and upload the same through IT Portal. SLBC will intimate the Commissioner of Agriculture Bank wise, Branch wise, Village wise farmers’ eligible amounts in Annexure-E for release of amount by the Government.
In respect of those farmers who have outstanding loan upto Rs.25,000/- only will be waived off in the 1st Phase, For other farmers, the eligible loan amount (upto Rs.1.00 lakh) shall be waived off in four instalments.
