Farm Loan Waiver Would Push Odisha Towards Bankruptcy: Naveen

Bhubaneswar: Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik on Friday said that waiving farm loan would make the Odisha government bankrupt.

“There are 32 lakh farmers’ family in the state of which 20 lakh avail crop loan. Of these, about 60 per cent families repay the loan in time. Had the government waived the farm loan, only 8 lakh families would have been benefited while the sharecroppers and tenant farmers would have been deprived of the benefit,” the Chief Minister told mediapersons after presiding over the State Cabinet meeting at the State Secretariat here.

Taking a swipe at the Congress, Naveen said that the party has led the economy of the country and the states to a state of bankruptcy by waiving farm loan.

“The demand for the waiver of farm loan made by the Congress would make Odisha bankrupt and push the state to the precarious situation it had experienced in the 90s. But the state cabinet today has announced such a package for the farmers which will make the loanee farmers and all category farmers financially self-sufficient,” he pointed out.