Disburse loan amount to farmers by February 15, says Maharashtra CM

Hindustan Times had on Thursday reported that details of more than 16 lakh farmers who have sought loan waiver don’t match the bank records.

 Irked by the delay in disbursing loan waiver amount to farmers, chief minister Devendra Fadnavis has set February 15 as the deadline for completion of the process.

On Thursday, the CM directed state officials to complete the disbursement for cases where the farmers’ data matches the bank’s, in three days.(FILE)

On Thursday, the CM directed state officials to complete the disbursement for cases where the farmers’ data matches the bank’s, in three days. February 15 is the deadline for applications where there is a mismatch. The orders were issued by the chief minister in a review meeting at Mantralaya, the state headquarters on Thursday.

Hindustan Times had on Thursday reported that details of more than 16 lakh farmers who have sought loan waiver don’t match the bank records. This has created a serious issue for the state government, as more scrutiny means further delay.

As on February 5, 31.32 lakh farmers were given a waiver amounting to Rs12,363 crore. The disbursal process started in October last year. Although the state prepared a list of 47.73 lakh eligible farmers, their data did not match with bank details. This resulted in scrutiny of 16.41 lakh bank accounts.The verification and disbursal processes have led to a delay of over five months. “I have asked to disburse the loan amount to the farmers in the next 3 days where account data is clear and matched,” Fadnavis tweeted after the meet.

He also asked banks to issue a clear circular conveying them not to charge any interest on the loan amount for this disbursal period, as agreed by all banks in state level bankers committee (SLBC) meeting recently.

Following an unprecedented strike by farmers in June last year, the state government announced Rs 34,022 crore loan waiver package, called Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Shetkari Sanman Yojana, which was expected to cover 89 lakh farmers. It had also sought application from the farmers. Around 77 lakh farmers applied, of which 69 lakh applications are being considered. About two months ago, the state had announced the first list of 47.73 lakh eligible farmers who were supposed to get Rs23,102 crore.