Maharashtra CM assures complete farm loan waiver in coming days

Days after state government announced farm loan waiver upto Rs two lakh, Maharashtra chief minister Uddhav Thackeray said his government is planning a complete loan

Days after state government announced farm loan waiver upto Rs two lakh, Maharashtra chief minister Uddhav Thackeray said his government is planning a complete loan waiver in the coming days

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Speaking at annual general meeting of Vasantdada Sugar Institute (VSI) neat Pune on Wednesday, Thackeray said the Maharashtra Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government is contemplating of loan waiver above Rs two lakh while working out on plan to offer incentives to those farmers who are repaying loan regularly.

“We have already announced the decision to waive off loans worth Rs 2 lakh (per farmer) as immediate relief to cultivators. While we are certainly going to do this in coming days, the government is planning to make sure that their entire (crop) loan is waived,” Thackeray said adding providing relief to drought and flood affected farmers is on the top of government agenda.

His remarks came a day after Shiv Sena- led three party government in Maharashtra formally approved a loan waiver scheme under which short-term crop loan up to Rs 2 lakh taken by farmers between April 1, 2015-March 31, 2019, will be written off. Under the scheme, short-term restructured crop loan arrears up to September 30, 2019, will also be waived.

It was for the first time Thackeray visited VSI which is headed by NCP chief Sharad Pawar. During his speech, Thackeray admitted he is still in the process of learning things about sugar sector.