Maharashtra CM announces Rs 34,000-crore debt relief to farmers

Shiv Kumar

Tribune News Service

Mumbai, June 24

The Maharashtra government has announced a farm loan waiver amounting to Rs 34,000 crore.

Called the Chatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Krishi Samman Yojana, loans up to Rs 1.5 lakh rupees of individual farmers that were taken before July 2016 will be waived, Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis announced at a press conference here today.

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“The loan waiver will cost the state government Rs 34,000 crore and benefit 89 lakh farmers in the state,” Fadnavis said. The scheme will make 40 lakh agriculturists debt-free.

Providing some details about the scheme, Fadnavis said farmers who have regularly repaid their loans in the past would receive a payback of 25 per cent as incentive of their loans. “We would like to ensure that even farmers who have regularly repaid their loans also enjoy the benefits,” Fadnavis said.

He added that the details on the loan waiver scheme would be made available shortly. 

Maharashtra Govt. decided loan waiver of Rs. 34,000 Crores. We are waiving loans upto Rs.1.5 lakhs completely: Maha CM Devendra Fadnavis pic.twitter.com/FXcrVgSNBg

— ANI (@ANI_news) June 24, 2017

“Maharashtra has announced the biggest loan waiver package in the country. The amount waived off and the number of beneficiaries is bigger as compared to UP, Karnataka, Punjab and Andhra Pradesh,” Revenue Minister Chandrakant Patil told reporters.

Earlier, the Maharashtra government had mulled imposing an upper limit of Rs 1 lakh that was to have been waived off per farmer. However, this was opposed by farmers' groups and the opposition parties.

Fadnavis had met with Nationalist Congress Party chief Sharad Pawar in New Delhi on Friday as part of an effort to build consensus among political parties before announcing the loan waiver today.

The Chief Minister admitted that the loan waiver will add to the state's financial burden. “We will come out with a programme to curtail expenses. Our ministers and MLAs will give up a month's salary to support the loan waiver programme,” Fadnavis said.  

Farmers in many parts of Maharashtra were on a warpath early this month, which disrupted supply of vegetables and other essentials to cities, including Mumbai. They were demanding a loan waiver, which was backed by all political parties.

The stir was called off after the government gave them a firm assurance on bringing in a comprehensive scheme to help the debt-pressed cultivators. — With agency inputs