Karnataka draws blueprint for farm loan waiver
Bengaluru, July 25 : The Karnataka government has drawn a blueprint to waive crop loans of farmers from state-run and co-operative banks in the southern state, an official statement said.
"The government has prepared a blueprint to waive off loans upto Rs 48,000 crore that includes loans from co-operative banks, subsidy and crop loans granted by the state-run banks," said a statement from the Chief Minister's Office.
The blueprint includes the Rs 34,000 crore loans to be waived as announced by Chief Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy while presenting the state Budget on July 5.
Total loans amounting upto Rs 48,000 crore to be waived include Rs 37,159 crore crop loans granted to the farmers by state-owned banks and about Rs 9,500 crore of current loans, the statement added.
The banks are to ready the details of farm loans from across the state that are eligible to waived, and the process of waiver will commence after the state's review.
As per the election manifesto promises of the Janata Dal-Secular (JD-S) to waive farm loans if voted to power, Kumaraswamy, who is also the state party chief, had announced in his budget speech to waive upto Rs 2 lakh crop loans per farmer family.
"All crop loans defaulted by farmers upto December 31, 2017 are waived in the first stage. Only loans borrowed from district co-operative banks and state co-operatives are waived in the first stage," he had said.
The budget had also proposed to allot Rs 6,500 crore to enable farmers avail fresh loans after they submit a clearance certificate from the department concerned that their loan arrears have been waived.
The previous waiver by former Chief Minister Siddaramaiah had cost the state exchequer Rs 8,165-crore.
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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.
