In what came as a Diwali gift to the distressed farmers in Maharashtra, Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis on Monday announced that the farm loan waiver amounts would be deposited into the bank accounts of the farmers under Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj farm loan waiver scheme from October 18.
Interacting with farmers and village at Jalna in Marthwada region, Fadnavis said, “We are starting the process of disbursement of actual benefits of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Shetkari Sanman Yojana from October 18 by depositing loan waiver amount into farmers’ bank accounts”.
Welcoming Fadnavis’ announcement, the ruling Shiv Sena claimed credit for the farm loan waiver in the State.
Talking to media persons here, Shiv Sena spokesperson and MP Sanjay Raut said, “We have been told that the stage Government would deposit the farm loan waiver amounts in bank accounts of the beneficiary farmers from October 18 onwards. We expect that the State Government would complete the disbursal process by the end of this month. All I can say that it is because of the crusade we had launched that the State Government announced farm loan waiver”.
It may be recalled that the Maharashtra Government had on June 24 this year come out with a staggering Rs 34,022 crore relief package for debt-trapped farmers in the State.
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, total 36.10 lakh farmers are eligible for a financial assistance of Rs 1.50 lakh each to clear their piled up loans. Subsequently on August 18, the ruling Shiv Sena 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.
Expressed serious doubts over the statistics of farm loan waiver beneficiaries, Sena president Uddhav Thackeray said, “We want the 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” .
On his part, NCP president Sharad Pawar had early this month contested Fadnavis’ claim that the total farm loan waiver benefit was to the tune of Rs 34,022 crore.
At a news conference he addressed here on October 3, Pawar charged that Fadnavis had taken the people for ride by claiming that the farm loan waiver accounted for a relief worth Rs 35,000 crore, while the fact remained the actual relief that the farmers could expect was in the range of Rs 10,000 crore to Rs 12,000 crore.