Fadnavis mega farm loan waiver to make 40 lakh free of debt

Rs 34,000-cr GIFT In all, 89 lakh farmers will benefit from the scheme; state to approach banks for loans

Giving in to the long-standing demands of debt-ridden farmers in the state and responding to constant criticism of its ally, the Shiv Sena, over the issue, the Maharashtra government on Saturday announced a farm loan waiver totalling Rs 34,000 crore. The decision was announced by Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis after an unscheduled meeting of the state Cabinet.

“We have decided to write off loans up to Rs 1.5 lakh of individual farmers,” Fadnavis announced at a press conference in Mumbai. Loans of about 40 lakh farmers will be waived by this decision. Further, incentive will be given to farmers who have been paying regularly— 25 per cent of their loans will be paid off if they have repaid. “About 89 lakh farmers will be benefit by the decision,” Fadnavis said, adding that loans taken by farmers till June 2016 will be waived off by the government, with an upper limit of Rs 1.5 lakh.

The weekend was a hectic one for state secretariat officials and ministers, who were working on the finer points of the loan waiver scheme. The Finance Secretary is said to have reviewed the package on Friday for over four hours.

Chandrakant Patil, member of the chief of ministerial group, met Shiv Sena president Uddhav Thackeray on Saturday morning to apprise him of the decision. Soon after, Patil briefed Fadnavis about his meeting.

The CM, too, held back-toback meetings with the ministerial group and then with the Cabinet at Mantralaya before officially declaring this decision. Terming the loan waiver scheme as “historic”, Fadnavis told reporters, “Earlier in 2008, the then Union government had announced loan waiver scheme worth Rs 72,000 crore for farmers across the country, which was later cut to Rs 52,000 crore… Maharashtra is the only state which is giving a loan waiver of Rs 34,000 crore.”

The Cabinet has okayed the scheme in which debts up to Rs 1.5 lakh per farmer will be completely waived off. “This will benefit around 90 per cent debt-ridden farmers,” Fadnavis said, elaborating, “The number of such farmers in the state is around 40 lakh.”

The government has also approved a one-time settlement scheme (OTS) for around six lakh farmers whose loan amounts are more than Rs 1.5 lakh. “Such eligible farmers will get 25 per cent of outstanding loan written off,” the chief minister said.

The state has also taken cognisance of farmers who repay their loans on time. Farmers whose crop loan has been restructured from 2012 to 2016, but who are still defaulters as on June 30, 2016, will be given incentive up to 25 per cent of crop loan or Rs 25,000, whichever will be less. The scheme has been named ‘Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Krishi Sanman Yojana’. But where will all this money come from? Fadnavis said, “We will approach banks for loan. Certainly, the scheme will affect the state's fiscal deficit, but we will manage it for the welfare of the farmers.”

Finance Minister Sudhir Mungantiwar said that state will open a dialogue with banks to get the loan. “We have plans to repay Rs 10,000 crore every year. For complete waiver of loans up to Rs 1.5 lakh alone, the state will need Rs 19,790 crore,” he said.

Two-and-half-year old injured

Debris lying on the slope of a hill collapsed on to four houses at Gopal chawl at Janta nagar in Ghatkopar (West), adjoining the Tansa pipeline on Saturday morning. Two-and-a half-year-old Alok Anil Sahane sustained injuries due to the landslide. The incident took place at 7.30 am on Saturday at Janta nagar at Pachodi pada at Golibar road in Ghatkopar.