Farmers whose names submitted to govt by DCC banks to get loan waiver amount by Diwali: Min

The farmers whose names were submitted to the government by the concerned District Central Cooperative Banks (DCCBs) under the loan waiver scheme will receive the disbursal amount in their bank accounts before Diwali, Maharashtra Agriculture Minister Pandurang Phundkar announced on Tuesday.

He said the government will release the funds to those districts where the DCC Banks have submitted the complete list of eligible farmers.

Some DCC banks which have branches across many districts are yet to send complete lists of the loan waiver beneficiaries to the government. Responding to a query on the opposition’s criticism that farmers are being charged for submitting online farms for the loan waiver scheme, Phundkar said had that been the case, the administration would not have received about 55 lakh applications.

He said the government

had never announced a complete loan waiver per se for farmers.

When told that some eligible farmers are being unable to apply due to problems in giving their thumb impressions, the minister said such cases will be considered eligible for the loan waiver in its next phase.

Bowing to protests by farmers, the state government in June had announced a Rs 34,000 crore loan waiver with caveats. Under the scheme, loans up to Rs 1.5 lakh per farmer will be waived.

When asked about recent deaths of farm labourers in Yavatmal district due to spraying of pesticides on cotton crops, Phundkar said Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis on Tuesday approved a probe under Additional Chief Secretary (Home).

Expressing regret at the deaths, he conceded that negligence had taken place at multiple levels.

Although the government did not specify the number of deaths, eminent farm activist from Vidarbha, Kishor Tiwari, and the Shiv Sena said the pesticide exposure reported in Yavatmal district has claimed 18 lives so far. Phundkar said neither the concerned district collector nor the local police are aware of these cases.

Announcing that the government will decide on banning the imported Chinesemake pesticide spray pumps, Phundkar said the cotton crops have grown to the height of almost six feet this year.

“The contract farm labourers have to spray the pesticide from a certain height. However, due to extreme heat conditions the labourers wear only vests and no other protective gear like face masks,” he said.

The government had never announced a complete loan waiver per se for farmers. The govt will release the funds to those districts where the DCC Banks have submitted the complete list of eligible farmers. –Pandurang Phundkar Maharashtra Agriculture Minister