Thaindian News

Chennai, Jan 6 (IANS) Tamil Nadu Governor Surjit Singh Barnala Wednesday announced a loan waiver, increasing paddy procurement price and welfare measures.
The Tamil Nadu government has decided to waive loans worth around Rs.163 crore given to fishermen and Adi Dravidar (dalit) entrepreneurs, he said in his address to the state assembly.

While the government would pay the banks the principal amount on behalf of the beneficiary fishermen, the banks have decided to write off the interests due.

“Fishermen who lost their mechanised boats due to tsunami and took loans from banks to buy new boats have represented that they are unable to repay these loans and require the assistance of the state government,” Barnala said in his address.

“Accepting their request, this government has formulated a scheme in consultation with the banks under which the entire principal of the loans taken by tsunami affected fishermen will be repaid by the state government,” he added.

“The banks have agreed to waive the outstanding interest on these loans.”

The government has also decided to waive Rs.83 crore loan given to Adi Dravidar entrepreneurs by the Tamil Nadu Adi Dravidar Housing and Development Corp to start non-farm product business.

The waiver will benefit 53,524 Adi Dravidar entrepreneurs, Barnala said.

He said the government, which had earlier waived cooperative agricultural loans, has disbursed loans of Rs.1,559 crore this year as against a target of Rs.2,000 crore.

The state government has also decided to increase paddy procurement price by Rs.50 per quintal for ordinary and fine grade paddy, the governor said.

“As a result, the procurement price for ordinary grade variety and fine grade variety will increase to Rs.1,050 and Rs.1,100 per quintal respectively. On account of this, the government will incur an additional expenditure of Rs.80 crore.”

Referring to river water disputes, Barnala said: “Though the state government has been making all efforts to resolve inter-state river water disputes through talks and legal means, we witness a situation where some neighbouring states are not coming forward to give our legitimate share of river water, thus affecting the livelihood of our farmers.”

Dwelling on the central government’s rethinking on the linking of inter-state rivers, Barnala said Tamil Nadu was opposed to the move.

The first phase of the Rs.189-crore “Cauvery-Gundar Interlinking Scheme”, and the Rs.369-crore “Tamirabarani-Karumeniyar-Nambiar Interlinking Project” for taking surplus water from Tamirabarani river to water deficit areas are under implementation, he said.

Barnala also referred to the price rise of essential items, and said the state government was importing dal for sale through ration shops at subsidised rates.

“The expenditure on account of food subsidy has increased from Rs.1,200 crore in 2005-2006 to Rs.4,000 crore in 2009-2010,” he maintained.

Barnala also said the government would pay the tuition fees for students pursuing professional course if their families had no graduates.