THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: While several farmers are in dire straits following the flood and Covid pandemic, the state government is denying them the opportunity to get relief from debt. Despite many people committing suicide as they were unable to repay the debt, the government has not issued an order to approach the Debt Relief Commission

An order should be issued every financial year to approach the Debt Relief Commission to avoid foreclosure and liability of banks. The last order was issued in 2020. The government is not taking any action despite the Commission's requests.

Although the amount deducted by the Commission will reduce the burden on the farmers, the amount should be paid by the government to the financial institutions from the budget. This is the reason why the government was not issuing an order regarding debt relief. The government has not allocated any amount for debt relief in this year's budget. Not even a quarter of the amount earlier ordered by the Commission has been handed over.

As per the order issued on March 31, 2020, more than one lakh people have applied for debt relief. Of these, the Commission was not able to consider 85,000 applications due to Covid restrictions. Idukki has the highest number of applicants. (nearly 25 thousand)

Although online sittings are taking place, banks, which are busy with the year-end census, are not cooperating. The main reason behind this is that the banks haven't received the amount ordered by the Debt Relief Commission from the government.