Cong,ncp,senahoponto loanwaiverbandwagon
Parties’ aggressive approach to the issue resulted in the proceedings of both houses being disrupted for the third consecutive day
produce. The state has not followed the order. On Thursday, the court asked the state to clarify its stance within a week. This shows how callous the government is towards farmers,” Patil told reporters.
Farmers in the state have been affected by drought and acute water shortage in most of the districts since the past four years. Last year, the situation was so bad that more than 70% of the state’s villages were declared drought-hit. Even after a good monsoon, the situation did not improve.
Shiv Sena ministers Dada Bhuse and Arjun Khotkar sat in front of Shivaji Maharaj’s statue as a mark of protest against their own government, while party legislators joined Opposition members in the house, demanding loan waivers.
Shiv Sena ministers raised the issue before Fadnavis at the cabinet meeting held on Thursday evening.
Demands for a farm loan waiver continued to rock the state legislative council too, with the upper house adjourned early for the fifth day in a row. NCP’S Dhananjay Munde, Opposition leader in the upper house, lashed out at the government’s stand that a loan waiver will only help banks and not farmers.
He questioned the Bjp-led government’s 2016 move to repay loans taken by farmers from private money lenders.
“It is evident that the 2007-08 loan waiver did not yield the desired results. It only helped banks financiallly. We invested about Rs25,000 crore in various schemes to boost infrastructure, provide electricity connections, improve access to water and develop technological innovations. The Opposition should discuss how to help farmers instead of disrupting the house,” Patil said.
He added that the state was open to a debate on the issue.