Maha govt backtracks on loan waiver promise before Diwali
Finally, the farmers from the Maharashtra would get benefit of loan waiver from October 18. However, not all farmers will get relief from the Chhtrapati Shivaji Shetakari Sanman Yojana, as the loan waiver scheme will be implemented in four phases and it will take a month to complete the implementation of the scheme.
Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis has announced loan waiver scheme of Rs 34,000 crore on June 28 is expected to benefit 89 lakh farmers across the state.
According to Information and Technology department, in first phase on October 18, around 8 lakh farmers will get benefit of the loan waiver. “The amount will be deposited in the account of farmers whose data and eligibility has scrutinized,” said the official from IT department.
The data collected by the IT department revealed that the final figure of farmers who have applied for the loan waiver scheme across the state is 56.59 lakh. However, 2.41 lakh farmers have yet to submit their Aadhaar number with the application. There are about 77.26 lakh bank account holders.
The department have started the process first to remove the names of non-eligible farmers have applied for loan waiver scheme. An official said that they have also cross-checking with the central board of direct taxes (CBDT) about taxpayer and service tax payee farmers. “However, the data would not be share with any other agency to maintain privacy of the taxpayer,” clarified official.
Apart from taxpayers, MLA, MP, members of Zillah Parishad (ZP), office bearers of cooperative societies and government servants as well, who wouldn’t be beneficiaries of the scheme. V K Gautam, principal secretary of IT department said that the department is ready to launch the scheme before Diwali as the information from remaining banks is expected within 24 hours.
“The data of eligible farmers will be out on Tuesday evening. So, the loan waiver scheme can kick start before Diwali,” said Gautam.
Each family is eligible to get benefit of loan waiver up to Rs 1.5 lakh. If a husband and wife have combined loan amount upto Rs 1.5 lakh will get benefited and if the amount will go beyond Rs 1.5 lakh will have to pay their own.