Guidelines on farm loan waiver will be announced in Budget: CM
Bengaluru, June 25: Chief Minister HD Kumaraswamy said that he has got the suggestions from the cooperative societies on farm loan waiver and guidelines for which will be announced in the Budget.
After holding a meeting with the officials of Agriculture, Cooperative Department and representatives of cooperative sector at the Vidhana Soudha here on Monday, the CM told media persons that the loan waiver scheme which should protect the interests of the farmers would be implemented. “How many days I will be in power is not important for me. What I will do for the welfare of the people during that time is more important for me. In order to help the farming community, he has got the suggestions from the Cooperative Sector. But at the same time, the cooperative societies should not incur losses due to the loan waiver scheme. The suggestions emerged from the meeting would help me in preparing the guidelines”, he said.
Within the limits of the coalition government, he would honestly try to fulfill the promises given to the farmers. Officials would play a major role in protecting the farmers. He noticed that some officials have been talking about the life of this coalition government. The officials have the onus to implement the government schemes. Officials need not to have any confusion on the existence of the coalition government. Farm loan waiver should benefit the farmers. It should not help the middlemen because he would not get any commission, he said.
Time extended up to March 31
The farmers would not get anything if they renew the old loan. The farmers should be ensured the loan benefits on time. Representatives of some cooperative societies have suggested to extend the last date from December 31, 2017 to March 31, 2018 to consider the loans for waiver scheme. Now, he has asked the Finance department officials to submit an actual report on the burden to the government and the cooperative societies if the time is extended. To implement the scheme, all cabinet colleagues including Deputy Chief Minister Dr G Parameshwar and MLAs have supported. Shortly, a decision would be taken to waive off the huge farm loan, he said.
To be announced in Budget
The previous government had waived off the crop loans up to Rs 50,000 due which the state Exchequer incurred a burden of Rs 8000 crore and now, it would have another Rs 10,000 crore burden. Along with this, the details of crop loans taken from nationalized banks should be collected. For the implementation of the 6th Pay Commission recommendations, the government would require Rs 17,000 crore. Moreover, the government should continue the major programmes of the previous government. Keeping all these in mind, he would announce the loan waiver scheme in the budget shortly, the CM said.
Cooperative Minister Bandeppa Kashempur, Agriculture Minister NH Shivashankar Reddy, Health Minister Shivananda Patil, Chief Minister’s finance advisor Dr S Subramanya, heads of all district central cooperative banks and senior officers were present at the meeting.
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Three company directors held in Rs 100-crore investment fraud in Kochi
Kochi (Kerala) (PTI): Police on Sunday arrested three directors of a firm accused of cheating hundreds of investors of over Rs 100 crore through a fake investment scheme linked to agricultural tourism here, officials said.
The accused were identified as Muraleedharan, Ashik Murali and Akhil Murali, all natives of Thrissur.
The arrests were made by the Kalamassery police in connection with a fraud involving ATCOS (Agri Tourism Cooperative Society), a firm headquartered at Pathadipalam here.
Police said the company had promised high returns by collecting investments from the public in the agricultural tourism sector, but allegedly cheated hundreds of people and fled with the money.
ATCOS was registered under the Multi-State Cooperative Societies Act and operated 13 branches across various districts in Kerala, besides a branch in Coimbatore in Tamil Nadu, officials said.
When investors failed to receive their promised returns or the invested amount, complaints were filed with the police.
Officials said around 54 cases have been registered against the firm in 32 police stations across the state, including 29 cases at the Kalamassery police station alone.
Following instructions from Kochi City Police Commissioner K S Mahesh Kumar, a special investigation team was formed under the supervision of Deputy Commissioner of Police (Law and Order) Shehensha and Thrikkakara ACP Manoj Kumar.
The team traced the accused to an apartment in Amala Nagar in Thrissur, where they had been hiding after secretly renting the flat, officials said.
The bank accounts of the accused have been frozen, and steps have been initiated to trace their assets, officials said.
Police also conducted a raid at the company’s office at Pathadipalam and seized several documents related to the case.
The accused were produced before the Judicial First Class Magistrate Court in Kalamassery, which remanded them to judicial custody and sent them to Kakkanad jail.
Police said they would seek the custody of the accused for further interrogation as the investigation continues.
