It was a big day for some 7574 farmers who gathered at Smriti Upvan to take part in government’s loan waiver programme in Lucknow on Thursday.
Some hailed the Uttar Pradesh government’s move, calling it one of its kind by any government so far. Then there were a few who termed the government as pro-farmers. “I have never seen any government thinking so much for the farmers. It’s indeed a big waiver and a big favour from the government,” said one of the beneficiaries of the scheme Mohammed Usman of Sarsawa village in BKT.
Usman said he took a loan of Rs 1.5 lakh, of which the government waived a sum of Rs 1 lakh. “It will indeed help the farmers in fulfilling their financial needs and will surely make them strong economically,” he added.
Another farmer Raghunath, from Mohanlalganj, hailed the government’s plans to help farmers financially. “After fulfilling this promise, we hope the government will also fulfil its promise to double the farmers’ earnings by 2022,” said Raghunath.
The UP government has shortlisted around 56537 farmers for the scheme. “Of these, around 7574 farmers were shortlisted in the initial phase. A total of Rs43.92 crore got distributed today,” said Kaushal Raj Sharma, district magistrate, Lucknow.
Of the total 7574 farmers, 448 were from Sarojini Nagar tehsil, 625 from Sadar, 1727 from BKT, 2117 from Malihabad and 2657 from Mohanlalganj.