Bengaluru: The state government should waive off the loans availed by farmers immediately and should release Rs 10,000 crore to help drought-hit areas of the state, said senior BJP leader and leader of opposition at Karnataka Legislative Council K S Eshwarappa on Tuesday in the session.

The banks in the state are yet to recover an amount of Rs 96836 crores as loan repayment from the farmers while cooperatives are to recover Rs 12850 crores. The government should immediately waive 50% of the farmers’ loan and for the rest the state government should request the union government.

The government has declared 139 taluks as drought hit regions. However, the entire state has been facing severe water shortage. At present, the water reservoirs in the state should have 825 TMC water, but as on September 30 the reservoirs contained only 486 TMC water.