TURA: Farmers in the plains belt region of West Garo Hills who have had their standing crops washed away in the recent floods are calling upon the government to waive their loans. As many as three hundred farmers from the Phulbari-Bhaitbari region held a peaceful protest at New Bhaitbari market on Tuesday to draw attention of the government by holding placards and posters calling for the waiving of their Kisan Credit Card (KCC) loans. The Kisan Credit cards are offered to farmers in India in order to enable them to access affordable credit for farming. The Reserve Bank of India along with National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development initiated the conception of KCC in 1998-99 in order to assist agriculturists to have easily accessible cash credit facilities. Speaking to reporters, farmer Abdul Kasim narrated the bleak future staring him and his family in the aftermath of the floods which destroyed his standing crops. “We lost everything in the floods. Our crops have been washed away,” said Kasim while pointing out that many farmers had availed loans ranging from 25,000-50,000 rupees from the government. Though the demand for waiving of the loans is gaining momentum among the flood affected farmers of Garo Hills, the government is unlikely to act on the issue. A high level government source said that if the government goes ahead with the waiving of the loans, it would have to repay the loans to the bank. The Central government takes the initiative only when there is a severe drought and not in the case of floods. The last time farmers’ loans were waived in the country was in 2009 when Congress president Sonia Gandhi called upon the Manmohan Singh government to help the several lakh farmers in the drought hit region of central India. As many as 70,000 crore rupees worth of loans were waived to help the farmers get back on their feet.