Contingency fund hiked by ₹10K-cr for farm loan waiver

The state cabinet on Wednesday raised the limit of the contingency fund by Rs 10,000 crore to allow for immediate disbursement of loan waiver for farmers with an

The state cabinet on Wednesday raised the limit of the contingency fund by Rs 10,000 crore to allow for immediate disbursement of loan waiver for farmers with an outstanding amount of upto Rs 2 lakh. Contingency fund is used for government’s unforeseen expenditure and its limit is Rs 150 crore. It will now be hiked to Rs 10,150 crore for payment of the loan waiver.

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The state government requires an estimated Rs 29,712 crore for the waiver, announced for over 35 lakh farmers.

Out of these, the government has almost completed the verification of 28 lakh farmers and wants to start the disbursement of the waiver from February 22.

“The disbursement has to begin from February 22 and the immediate need is of Rs 10,000 crore until March 5. Since the session begins from February 24, the process in the house would have delayed the disbursement. Hence, we decided to release the amount from contingency funds,” said an official from the cooperation department.

The state government has decided to complete the disbursement by May 15.

The Maharashtra Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government had made the announcement of the loan waiver in the winter session in December. The government has also promised to bring a special scheme for the farmers with the pending loan of over Rs 2 lakh. It also announced the launch of an incentive scheme for farmers who have been regularly paying off their loans.

The previous Fadnavis government disbursed about Rs 18,800 crore to more than 48 lakh farmers under its loan waiver scheme.

Ahead of civic polls, MVA govt grants Rs 152.24 crore for road works in Aurangabad

Eying the forthcoming municipal elections in Aurangabad, the Uddhav Thackeray-led Maharashtra Vikas Aghadi government approved the proposal of sanction of Rs 152.24 crore for construction and repairs of the roads in the city. The Aurangabad municipal corporation had demanded Rs 263 crore for the road works. The roads will be constructed by the municipal corporation, Maharashtra State Road Development Corporation and Maharashtra Industrial Development.

State to provide free specs to students

Mumbai The Maharashtra Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government made an allocation of Rs 25 crore on Wednesday to provide free spectacles to students in government and aided schools. According to the decision taken in the state cabinet meeting, around 9.5 lakh students in the age group of 6 to 18 years will be distributed free spectacles. In the annual health check-up conducted under the National Health Program for Children in India, it was found the number of students with weak eyesight is on rise. “Of the total 1.21 crore students studying in these schools around 8% were found affected with weak eyesight and providing them free spectacles will help in their studies,” said school education minister Varsha Gaikwad. Each spectacle would cost Rs 200. Gaikwad said that the scheme will be implement by the public health department as they have the machinery and expertise in the field.