BENGALURU: Karnataka chief minister HD Kumaraswamy said on Wednesday that he intends to waive off farm loans taken between April 1, 2009, and December 31, 2017, from primary agricultural credit cooperatives, state cooperatives, commercial, scheduled and nationalised banks.An estimated Rs 1.14 lakh crore in loans will have to be waived off if Kumaraswamy goes ahead with the plan and implements it in toto, making it the biggest such waiver in India’s history. The biggest loan waiver so far, according to officials, has been the UPA government’s Rs 72,000 crore in 2008.“After the tight-fisted economics practised by his predecessor (Siddaramaiah), this move by the CM is a shocker,” a senior official told ET. Under pressure from Congress president Rahul Gandhi, Siddaramaiah , who was also the state finance minister in the previous government, had announced a Rs 8,165 crore waiver in June 2017 for short-term cooperative loans of up to Rs 50,000 taken by over 22 lakh farmers.Kumaraswamy, however, said a few riders will be needed on who could avail the waiver. “Farmers should submit the loan amounts they have taken and the reasons for the loan to the deputy commissioners of their respective districts,” he said in a meeting with farmer representatives and progressive farmers in Bengaluru on Wednesday. “We will get details of loans and the pending amounts from nationalised banks also,” he said.Deputy CM G Parameshwara and BJP ’s deputy floor leader in the Assembly Govind Karjol also attended the three-hour meeting. The CM, whose party, the JD(S), had promised a “full loan-waiver” of Rs 53,000 crore in it manifesto ahead of the assembly elections that concluded on May 15, said: “The state’s budget is about Rs 2 lakh crore, and education, health and social welfare have to be taken care of under it besides agriculture. We will form guidelines in the next 10 to 15 days to figure out how and for whom this loan waiver can be done.”Kumaraswamy asked the gathering if coffee plantations owners, farmers with huge lands and politicians who owned land should be offered the waiver, to which the representatives present responded negatively. “We will give the loan waiver in two phases, beginning with small and marginal farmers,” he said.The CM said he would also consult Rahul Gandhi on the waiver as he had advocated it all through the Congress’ election campaign in Karnataka. “My major concern is that the farmers should not misuse the facility. There are farmers who have taken loans to buy motorbikes or to celebrate weddings. There are some who run pesticide shops. Should we waive off their loans also?” he asked.Bengaluru won't suffer from loan waiver: CMBENGALURU The state government will not divert funds meant for Bengaluru City development to fund crop loan waiver, chief minister HD Kumaraswamy said on Wednesday in his meeting with leaders of farmer organisations. The government, he said, was committed to maintaining fiscal discipline, and would pay all attention the city requires in terms of infrastructure development. This paper had carried a report on Wednesday in which a section of citizens had expressed concerns about farm loan waiver plans eating into funds meant for city's development.