New Delhi: Congress president Sonia Gandhi has criticised the Agriculture Minister Rajnath Singh for his "hollow promise" on lowering the rate of interest for agricultural sector and suggested that he should take up the matter with the Finance Minister and others to help farmers.

"You announced the lowering of the rate of interest for agricultural loans with great fanfare... But even now the promise of nine per cent rate of interests remains hollow," Sonia Gandhi said in a letter to Rajnath Singh.

She hoped that Singh would take up the matter forcefully, stating that "The making of announcements without first creating the environment for their realistic execution gives the unfortunate impression that government's token announcements are merely political gimmicks."

She said co-operative banks provide almost 40 per cent of agricultural loans, but when it was pointed out that they could not do so at nine per cent without reducing the number of stages through which this loan is processed, the NABARD Agreement Bill was introduced hastily and passed on August 18, 2003.

Quoting NABARD chairman, who said that even the amendment in the NABARD Act would not serve the purpose, unless the rate of interest on general line of credit (GLC) by Reserve Bank of India (RBI) was not reduced, the GLC is itself increased and co-operative credit institutions were strengthened in line with commercial banks.

PTI