KIsan Congress to protest outside PMO on Aug 17, if demands not met

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New Delhi, Aug 12 (IANS) Four days after writing to Union Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar demanding the extension of loan repayment by farmers from August this year to March 2021 in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic, Kisan Congress Vice President Surendra Solanki on Wednesday threatened to protest outside the Prime Minister's Office (PMO) if the demands are not met.

Solanki said that if the demands are not met by August 16, on August 17 they will stage a protest outside the PMO.

He has written to Tomar that in July this year it was said that the farmers who are not able to repay this loan amount on the date of payment in the Kisan Credit Card (KCC) scheme will have to pay 3 per cent more interest.

The Kisan Congress leader has also pointed out that the farmers, who have taken a loan through the KCC, will only have to pay 4 per cent interest if they return the amount by August 31.

"And after this date, the loan repaying farmers will have to pay 7 per cent interest. But the situation has become more serious today, the epidemic is spreading and the farmers have not made much profit, nor is there any hope of the situation improving in the coming times," he said.

He also highlighted that in many areas of the country, farmers are facing the problem of floods and thus they will not be in a position to repay the loan.

"The Kisan Congress demands that you consider the farmers demand sympathetically that the loan of the farmers be forgiven. The date of repayment of this loan should be immediately extended to March 31, 2021 as farmers across the country are struggling more due to the outbreak of the epidemic," Solanki added.

He accused the government of being deaf and dumb towards the farmers' problems as it does not see the suffering of the farmers and nor does it want to take care of them.

--IANS

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