Stop auction of agricultural land of farmers who failed to repay loans: Raj CM

Jaipur, Jan 20 (PTI) Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot on Thursday gave instructions to stop the auction of agricultural land of farmers who failed to repay the loans taken from commercial banks in the state.

“Due to non-payment of loans of farmers taken from commercial banks that are controlled by the Reserve Bank of India in the state, land attachment and auction action is being taken under the Rajasthan Agricultural Credit Operation (Removal of Difficulties) Act, 1974. State government officials have been instructed to stop this," he said in a statement.

The chief minister also said that the state government has waived off the loans of cooperative banks, and urged the Centre to waive the loans of farmers by doing one-time settlement from commercial banks. The state government is ready to bear its share in this also, he said.

"Our government had passed a bill in the assembly to ban land auction of farmers having agricultural land up to five acres, but due to lack of permission of the governor, it has not become a law yet. I am sad that due to non-compliance of this law, the said situation has come,” he noted.

Gehlot expressed hope that the bill will be approved soon.

Notably, many instances of issuing notices to auction the land of farmers, who are unable to repay the loans, came to the fore recently. The main opposition BJP has also targeted the Congress-led state government over the issue.

PTI AG SRY