With Odisha witnessing a series of farmer suicides allegedly due to crop loss and debt burden, Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik has asked farmers in the drought -hit areas not to worry about re-payment of loans saying the government will reschedule farm loans.
"Togetherwehavefacedmanycalamitiesinthe past. The farmers of thedrought affected areas need not worry about re-payment of their loans," Patnaik said in a statement to reporters after returning from a visit to Delhi.
Stating that the state government was with farmers and has all along beenworkingtoprotecttheirinterests, the Chief Minister said "the state government is implementing a drought package of about Rs 1,000 crore."
Thestate government hastakena decisionto reschedule agriculture loans andstrong action would also be taken against unscrupulousmoneylenders, he said.
Thestate governmentwouldmake all out efforts to mitigate thesufferingsof farmers and protect their interests, Patnaik added.
During his week-long visit to Delhi, Patnaik met Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley and demanded a special central assistance of Rs 3,500 crore to mitigate the dry-spell situation, which has resulted in crop loss in about 5.23 lakh hectares of cultivable land.
