Daijiworld Media Network - Bengaluru (SP)

Bengaluru, Jan 10: It is reliably learnt that because of stringent conditions covering loan waiver scheme of the state government, the burden on the state government, which was pegged at Rs 44,700 crore initially, is likely to fall by 50 percent to around Rs 20,000 crore.

This is so because of limiting loan waiver in commercial banks to a maximum of two lac rupees, and one lac rupees in the case of cooperative banks. One loan per family alone is being waived, and most of the loans in banks are within Rs 50,000.

CM H D Kumaraswamy

A plus point for Karnataka is that it is in the last spot in India to suffer from reduction in capital expenditure because of healthy revenue management and good revenue collection achieved by the previous government. For example, as against cut of 12 percent suffered by Rajasthan under capital expenditure because of loan waiver, the share of reduction in Karnataka, as per an estimate by an organization, will not exceed 2.5 percent.

The state government, which has set aside Rs 6,500 crore for the purpose of waiving farm loans this year, therefore, plans to waive the entire remaining amount in the coming budget. Before the previous assembly election, H D Kumaraswamy had announced that all the farmers’ loans would be waived and farmers would be freed from all kinds of debt. The farmers had high expectations from this scheme.

On Tuesday, the government formed teams of officials to conduct pre audits for loan waiver scheme. The government said that the purpose of forming these teams was to ensure that benefits of the scheme reach all the eligible farmers, and to avoid misuse of the scheme by ineligible persons. Officials of state audit and accounts department will lead these teams.