Centre postpones recovery of farmer loans by a year

In a major relief to the farmers in Uttarakhand, the Central government today agreed to postpone recovery of loans from them by a year.
The announcement came after Chief Minister Harish Rawat called up Union Agriculture Minister Radha Mohan to apprise him of heavy damages incurred by the farmers in Uttarakhand due to recent unseasonal rains and hailstorms.
The Minister also agreed to take up the issue of waiving off a year's interest before Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, a state government statement said.
Informing about the steps taken to mitigate the farmers' losses, the Chief Minister said his government has announced a Rs 25 crore relief package and more funds will be released if needed be.

Rawat informed that Rs 5 crore each would be released for agriculture and horticulture sectors in a day or two.
The chief minister said the recovery of cooperative loans to the farmers have been postponed by six months and the state government has decided to pay the interest on these loans.
The state government has also decided to write off revenue, irrigation dues and power surcharge for farmers for the six months period of April to September, Rawat told Singh.