By IANS
Raipur : Thousands of farmers gathered in a village in Chhattisgarh Wednesday to attend a Congress party rally to highlight the Rs.600 billion farm loan waiver announcement by the government in the union budget last month.
Minister of State for Home Affairs Sriprakash Jaiswal and Congress treasurer Motilal Vora, along with several state Congress leaders, addressed the rally held at Oteband village in Durg district, western Chhattisgarh.
Durg is one of the 18 districts of the state where a majority of farmers has taken loans from various co-operative banks for paddy cultivation. According to officials, about 500,000 small farmers in the state, mostly from Raipur, Durg, Dhamtari, Mahasamund, Bilaspur and Rajnandgaon districts, have outstanding loans worth Rs.48.1 million.
The state’s opposition Congress party has planned a series of such rallies across Chhattisgarh to highlight the loan waiver, aiming to woo voters for the state assembly polls to be held in November this year.