Maharashtra Loan Waiver: Rs 4,000 Cr released under 1st phase; More than 8 lakh farmers to benefit

Mumbai, October 20: Maharashtra government released a sum of Rs 4,000 Crore under the first phase of the over Rs 34,000 Crore farm loan waiver scheme, Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis announced. Disbursal, in the first phase, will cover more than 8 lakh farmers, CM Fadnavis said as he listed initiatives taken by his government towards increasing investment in the agriculture sector.

 

“Today we have released Rs 4,000 crore of which Rs 3,200 crore will be for writing off the loans of 4.62 lakh farmers.The remaining Rs 800 crore will be in the form of incentive for 3.78 lakh farmers who are paying their loans on time,” he said. The release of funds under the scheme, announced in June, will be a continuous process, the chief minister said, adding that by November 15, 75-80 percent of the disbursement will be completed. “Farmers have been going through a lot of trouble and year after year we have seen that the agricultural growth rate has been in negative.

Over 1 Crore applications got registered online for Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Shetkari Sanman Yojana and now actual disbursement would start from 18 October 2017, was informed by CM Fadnavis.

By 15 November, 80% of the eligible farmers would have received their loan waiver benefits, the chief minister assured. “The number of farmers to be covered under the scheme was estimated to be higher as per the initial estimates given by the banks but there has been a correction in these numbers. At the same time, more farmers have been added after we decided to implement the scheme from 2009 instead of 2012 as determined earlier. We will know the precise cost of loan waiver only after the full implementation,” the Chief Minister said.

When the loan waiver was announced, the government said it would benefit nearly 8.9 million farmers, based on data shared by the State Level Bankers’ Committee (SLBC). Aadhaar number and bank accounts have helped the government identify at least 1.5 million accounts that belong to farmers who are not eligible for loan waiver. Asked if there would be action against these account holders, CM Fadnavis said the priority right now was delivering the loan waiver benefits to the deserving farmers.

CM Devendra Fadnavis said the state had nearly 13.6 million farmers and more than 10 million of them had enrolled in the scheme by undergoing biometric identification. Back in the month of June, CM Fadnavis announced the historic loan waiver for its farmers after Uttar Pradesh did the same.