Maharashtra CM assures complete farm loan waiver in Pune

Thackeray said that Maharashtra Vikas Aghadi government is contemplating of a loan waiver above Rs two lakh to work out a plan to offer relief to those farmers who are repaying their loans regularly

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

Days after the state government announced a farm loan waiver up to Rs two lakh, Maharashtra chief minister Uddhav Thackeray said that his government is planning a complete loan waiver in the coming days. (Rahul Raut/HT PHOTO)

Speaking at an annual general meeting of the Vasantdada Sugar Institute (VSI) near Pune on Wednesday, Thackeray said that the Maharashtra Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government is contemplating of a loan waiver above Rs two lakh to work out a plan to offer relief to those farmers who are repaying their loans 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 the coming days, the government is planning to make sure that their entire (crop) loan is waived,” Thackeray said adding that providing relief to drought and flood-affected farmers is on the top of the government’s agenda..

His remarks came a day after the 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 and 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 that he is still in the process of learning things about the sugar sector.