In a major sop doled out to more than 11 lakh small land holding farmers and agricultural labourers ahead of the Lok Sabha polls, the BJP-led saffron alliance Government on Tuesday waived their loans disbursed by the Maharashtra State Cooperative Tribal Development Corporation (MSCTDC) and piled up interest amounting to Rs 361.17 crore.
At a weekly Cabinet meeting presided over by Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, the State Government decided to write off the principal loans given by the MSCTDC amounting to Rs 244.60 crore and a piled up interest of Rs 1,16.57 crore over the original loan amount.
The loan waiver decision will benefit 11.25 lakh small land holding farmers and agricultural labourers across the state. “The beneficiaries had taken the loans from the MSCTDC between 2009 and 2014,” a senior Minister said.
According to the Minister, the burden of Rs 361.17 arising out of the loan waiver would be adjusted against the allocation of Rs 940 crore made for the Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Shetkari Sanman Yojana under Tribal sub-plan for the year 2018-19.
Ironically enough, the Devendra Fadnavis Government has come out a fresh loan waiver announcement for 11 lakh small land holding farmers and agricultural labourers, at a time when it is facing severe criticism from the Opposition Congress, NCP and the ruling Shiv Sena for its failure to fulfill its promise of implementing the Rs 34,022 crore waiver scheme announced in June 2017.
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 was 89 lakh farmers.
Of them, early 40 lakh farmers were expected to become totally debt-free. Of the total beneficiaries under the scheme, a total 36.10 lakh farmers were eligible for a financial assistance of Rs 1.50 lakh each to clear their piled up loans.
The Opposition and Shiv Sena have been demanding that the BJP-led Maharashtra Government prove its claim that it had indeed waived loans announced under the waiver scheme.