Mysuru: Within 48 hours of launch, the Helpline initiated by district administration for farmers has received good response from the public.
A majority of the farmers requested the administration to ensure that the banks and cooperative societies do not force them to repay loans in the times of crisis, instead grant them time to make the payment, said Agriculture Department joint director Mahanteshappa M.

Some farmers requested the officials to simplify the procedures of getting farm loans through nationalised banks, pointing that the current system is tedious and requires them to submit several documents. This would be difficult for the farmers who are illiterate to get these documents on time, he said.

The farmers also wanted the banks to do away with the system of not giving fresh loans to defaulters. They said this would force farmers to depend on private money lenders who charge exorbitant interest rates.

He said the helpline officials revealed that many of the farmers are not aware of the government schemes like assistance for farm ponds, sprinklers and tarpaulins among others. Even if the farmers are aware of some of these schemes, many of them do not no how to go about availing them.

Mahanteshappa said there were also calls about power scarcity and land disputes and they were directed to approach the departments concerned to tackle these issues.

He said said the main objective of the helpline is to convince the farmers in distress that suicide is not the solution to anything and that things can be changed if they are aware of the government schemes and programmes which have been launched for helping them.

It received more than 130 calls within 48 hours. Farmers called the 24×7 helpline seeking assistance in issues related to bank loans, electricity, agriculture technology and land disputes among others.