Mahayuti's populist schemes leave no funds for ₹5,975 crore owed to Maharashtra farmers

Chief minister Eknath Shinde has reportedly held back the proposal moved by the cooperation department recently for want of funds

MUMBAI: The cash-strapped state government, which has been concentrating on the much-touted Ladki Bahin Yojana, has held back dues of ₹5,975 crore towards the farmers’ loan waiver scheme launched by the Devendra Fadnavis government in 2017. Chief minister Eknath Shinde has reportedly held back the proposal moved by the cooperation department recently for want of funds.

Sangli, India - May 25, 2023: Farmers sowing paddy seeds on a field, at Meni Village, in Sangli, India, on Thursday, May 25, 2023. (HT PHOTO) (Hindustan Times)

The Fadnavis-led BJP-Shiv Sena government had announced a loan waiver for farmers and disbursed ₹18,900 crore to 48 lakh farmers till the new waiver was announced by the Uddhav Thackeray-led Maharashtra Vikas Aghadi government in December 2019. Owing to the initial verification process and a subsequent change in the information technology company of the government, nearly 6.5 lakh farmers have been deprived of ₹5,975 crore dues towards their waiver amount.

Farmers from Karajgaon village in Newasa tehsil of Ahmednagar held a protest outside cooperation minister Dilip Walse Patil’s Pune residence two days ago. The farmers have not been able to get fresh crop loans owing to the entry of the earlier loan from 2017 on the revenue records. “After sitting on a hunger strike for three days, we staged a protest outside Walse-Patil’s residence to push for our seven-year old dues,” said a farmer on Thursday.

A senior NCP (Ajit Pawar) leader said that when the cooperation department moved the file to CM Shinde for his nod recently, he put it on hold, saying it could not be cleared for now owing to a lack of funds. “The government’s entire thrust is on the populist schemes announced in the budget in June,” said the leader.

A cooperation department official said that the amount remained unpaid initially because of technical glitches and now because of a cash crunch. “Most of the 6.5 lakh farmers, whose loan waiver dues have not been paid, are from the one-time settlement scheme (OTS) category, in which farmers had to pay outstanding dues of over ₹1.5 lakh in order to get a waiver of ₹1.5 lakh,” he said. “There are 2.94 lakh farmers who are eligible for a payout of ₹3,985 crore in the OTS category. The remaining 3.5 lakh farmers are eligible for ₹1,990 crore from other schemes such as incentives for regular payment and a complete waiver up to ₹1.5 lakh.”

The official said that the Thackeray government loan waiver of December 2019 was implemented by MahaIT, an arm of the state government, while the 2017 loan waiver was implemented by MahaOnline, a joint venture of the government with TCS. “The exchange of data between MahaOnline and TCS regarding beneficiary farmers further delayed the process of releasing the benefits,” the official said. “The department will once again request the CM to release the amount before the code of conduct is announced for the assembly polls.”