In another instance of the growing trust deficit between the ruling saffron alliance partners, the ruling Shiv Sena on Friday demanded that the BJP-led Maharashtra Government prove its claim that the farm loan waiver scheme, announced by it in June this year, would benefit 89 lakh farmers, of whom 40 lakh farmers would become totally debt-free.
Addressing a news conference at Shiv Sena Bhavan in Mumbai, Sena President Uddhav Thackeray expressed serious doubts over the statistics of farm loan waiver benaeficiaries that the state government had come out with when it announced the biggest-ever farmer relief measure on June 24 this year.
Uddhav, who had earlier met his party’s district unit presidents across the state, charged that though the state government was trying to create a false atmosphere that the process of farm loan waiver was going on in right earnest, the farm loan waiver had not happened in reality.
“We want State Government to prove its claims made with regard to farm loan waiver scheme. That’s we would like the State Government to table on the floor of the State legislature the list of farmers benefitted by the loan waiver scheme along with their addresses. Once that is done, we will verify for ourselves if the Government’s claims are indeed true,” Uddhav said.
Under the Rs 34,022 crore loan waiver scheme “Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Krishi Samman Yojana” announced by the Maharashtra Government, the total number of beneficiaries is 89 lakh. Of them, early 40 lakh farmers are expected to become totally debt-free, a situation that will facilitate them to take fresh loans from banks.
Of the total beneficiaries under the scheme, a total 36.10 lakh farmers are eligible for a financial assistance of Rs 1.50 lakh each to clear their piled up loans.
The Shiv Sena, which is a junior member in the BJP-led saffron alliance Government, has been consistently mounting pressure on the Fadnavis dispensation for the swift implementation of the farm loan waiver scheme. So much so that the Sena had on July 10 organised “dhol bajao” (drum beating) agitation in front of district co-operative banks across Maharashtra demanding immediate implementation of farm loan waiver. Subsequently, Uddhav himself toured several parts of the state to review progress of the implementation of the farm loan waiver scheme.