IT News
Mumbai Dec.22
Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray on Saturday announced waiver of farm loans up to Rs 2 lakh, even as the BJP threatened to launch an agitation against new loan waiver scheme saying that it was “cheating of farmers”.
At the conclusion of winter session of the state legislature in Nagpur, Thackeray said that crop loans up to Rs 2 lakh outstanding up to September 30, 2019 will be waived off by the Maharashtra government under the “Mahatma Jyotirao Phule loan waiver scheme”. Besides, a special scheme would be offered to the farmers who repay their loans in time, he added. Thackeray heads a coalition government of the Shiv Sena, NCP and Congress.
Finance Minister Jayant Patil (NCP) said the waiver would be unconditional, and details would be communicated by the chief minister’s office in due course.
However former CM and the leader of Opposition Devendra Fadnavis (BJP) alleged that the
government had not fulfilled its original promise of full loan waiver. He also said the Sena-led government failed to give assistance of Rs 25,000 per hectare to farmers who suffered losses due to unseasonal rains in October this year. This demand was made by Thackeray himself before he became the CM. After protesting against the loan waiver scheme in the assembly, BJP MLAs led by Fadnavis staged a walk out.
Later speaking to media outside the state legislature, Fadnavis said, “We are going to hold a state wide agitation against this “cheating of farmers”. “The loan waiver announced by the Government led by us in 2017 has already benefited farmers. We had waived loans up to Rs 1.50 lakh. Between 2017 and 2019, there will be very few farmers with outstanding loans.”The needy farmers are those who lost their crops due to untimely rains in October,” he added.
In the meanwhile it will be a testing time for Thackeray since the state is already reeling under the debt burden of Rs 6.71 lakh crore (which is 22.54 per cent of state GDP). Besides there is revenue deficit of Rs.20,293 crore (2019-2020).The Shiv Sena led coalition government has alleged that the loan burden mounted up to Rs.4.71 lakh crore from earlier Rs.2.94 lakh crore, during last 5 years when Fadnavis led the Government. The debt included the additional loans of Rs.2 lakh crore for infrastructure sector.
The salary burden rose from Rs 59,735 crore in 2013-14 to Rs 1,15241 crore in 2019-20, pension from Rs. 15,186 crore to Rs. 36,368 crore and interest on loans from Rs 14,838 crore to Rs. 35,207 crore.
The debt burden grew since the state had to bear the cost of the implementation of the 7 th pay commission recommendations, farm loan waiver, heavy cost of the proposed mid-sea Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Memorial in the Arabian Sea near Mumbai and the proposed Ambedkar memorial coming up in the premises of erstwhile Indu Mill at Dadar in Central Mumbai. The cost of establishment is 47.3 per cent in Maharashtra, while it is 33 per cent in neighbouring Gujarat and 27 per cent in Karnatak.
Caption Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray announcing waiver of farm loans in the Maharashtra Legislative Assembly
