State Cabinet approves farm loan waiver

State Cabinet approves farm loan waiverKarnataka State Cabinet took a number of important decisions regarding power, housing, farming etc. in its meeting on Thursday.

After the meeting, Primary & Secondary Education Minister Vishweshwara Hegde Kageri told reporters that the Cabinet approved Udupi Power Corporation Ltd’s proposal to purchase 1.5 million tonnes of imported coal. The company was also allowed to commission its second 600MW unit at Udupi.

Briefing reporters about other decisions, Kageri revealed that the Cabinet has decided to waive farmers’ crop loans of up to Rs 25,000. Farmers who had taken loans between August 1 last year and July 25 this year are eligible. This decision is expected to help as many as 15 lakh farmers, while the State exchequer will have to bear additional burden of around Rs 3,500 crore.

To help drought-hit farmers further, the Cabinet also decided to introduce an ‘own seed development’ scheme at a cost of Rs 50-crore. Speaking about the scheme, Kageri said, “Through this scheme, government is likely to fund storage facilities, provide tarpaulin, and build small godowns and moisture detection devices.”

Karnataka Housing Board (KHB) was also given the green signal for its proposed fifty-three housing complexes that will be developed at an estimated cost of Rs 7,888 crore. KHB has plans to construct around 6,867 houses in the State.

The National Institute of Mental Health & Neuro Sciences (NIMHANS) was allotted around 40 acres of land at Kyalasanahalli for the development of the institute’s proposed northern campus.

The Cabinet also approved a budget of Rs 2,160 crore for the proposed plan to construct 30 kilometers of roads in each of the 189 rural constituencies.