Hundreds of farmers, in Uttar Pradesh, have been handed out certificates that read their loans, worth 19 paise or a few rupees has been waived by the government, Hindustan Times reported.
One of the poll promises made by current UP CM Yogi Adityanath were of waiving farm loans up to Rs 1 lakh to ease distress. On Monday, in a meeting held at the district headquarters of Etawah, around 7,000 farmers were handed certificates that read a specific amount was waived. The benefit for 200 of them of the 7,000 was less than Rs 1,000 each.
Ishwar Dayal, a farmer from Etawah, got a certificate that read his outstanding farm loan amounting to 19 paise has been waived. According to a Hindustan Times report Dayal said he couldn’t believe that such a measly amount was waived.
Farmers expressed dismay poured in also from areas such as Jalaun, Kannauj, Mahoba and Farrukhabad.
Opposition leaders said measly amounts were being waived for farmers to show inflated beneficiaries, with leaders calling it the entire exercise a fiasco. “It is laughable,” Juhie Singh of the Samajwadi Party said to Hindustan Times.
State agricultural minister Surya Pratap Sahi, said the government was only living up to its promise. Sahi told Hindustan Times:
Rajesh Gupta, the additional director of agriculture, also found nothing wrong with the amounts waived, adding:
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