Drought-hit farmers left in lurch due to delay in submitting Honorary Certificate

Bhubaneswar: Citing delay in getting the honorary certificate from district collectors, the Cooperation department has written a letter to the district administration asking them to submit the document at the earliest so that drought-hit farmers in the State will get loan benefits.

Damodar Rout, Cooperative minister, said, “After the announcement of prevailance of drought situation in the State, the government had announced loan sops for farmers of the affected areas. But, the Cooperative Banks under the department will be directed by the government only.”

The State government had announced conversion of short term loans into medium term in areas where there was a crop loss of 33-50% while repayment of loans was extended to five years in case of more than 50% crop loss. However, due to delay in getting the Honorary Certificate from the districts, farmers in the affected areas are not getting anything.

Even the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) report tabled in the Assembly said farmers are not able to avail the loan benefits announced by the State due to delay made on the part of district administration in sending of the Honorary Certificate

Meanwhile, Balwant Singh, Sambalpur Collector, said, “We have got the letter from the Cooperation Secretary and submitted the Honorary Certificate.”