TVK government cheating ryots: Udhayanidhi Stalin

CHENNAI: Leader of Opposition Udhayanidhi Stalin on Tuesday accused the ruling Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam (TVK) government of misleading farmers through its crop loan waiver announcement.

In a statement, the DMK leader said the ruling party had promised during the Assembly election campaign that crop loans of all farmers owning up to five acres of land would be completely waived.

"Now the government has announced a full waiver only for loans up to Rs 50,000. This is injustice to farmers and a massive betrayal of trust," Udhayanidhi alleged.

He also referred to the government's earlier announcement on free electricity, claiming that the promise of free power supply up to 200 units had later been subjected to conditions linked to higher consumption slabs.

"Now they are committing a scam in the name of crop loan waiver," he charged.

Udhayanidhi questioned whether people should prepare themselves for more such "deceptions" from the government in the future.

Meanwhile, farmers' associations also expressed dissatisfaction over the announcement.

After meeting Revenue and Disaster Management Minister KA Sengottaiyan at the Secretariat, PR Pandian, president of the coordination committee of farmers' associations, said the government should honour the assurances given in the TVK election manifesto.

He pointed out that the manifesto had promised complete crop loan waiver for small and marginal farmers and said the associations were unable to accept the present announcement made by the government.