MUMBAI: Chief minister Devendra Fadnavis and revenue minister Chandrakant Patil discussed a new proposal of crop loan waiver with NCP leader Sharad Pawar at Delhi on Friday, which they claim would benefit as many as 83 per cent of the farmers in the state.
“If Maharashtra government decided to waive off crop loans of up to a limit of Rs 1 lakh till June 30, 2016, that would benefit 83 per cent of the farmers in the state who are feared to fall out of the credit net,” Patil said after meeting the NCP leaders.
Patil, who also chairs the group of ministers that was formed to talk to farmer leaders, said that the decision to meet all the leaders in the state and convey them the government proposal individually was taken after it was realised that the farmer leaders were not able to arrive at a consensus amongst them.
“I’ve already met Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray, Swabhimani Shetkar Sanghatana’s Raju Shetti and a few other leaders. In the same spirit, I met Sharad Pawar, Dhananjay Munde and Sunil Tatkare on Friday.
“I shall meet Maharashtra Congress president Ashok Chavan, leader of Opposition Radhakrishna Vikhe-Patil and other Congress leaders to discuss the proposal,” the minister said.
“We have also thought of a special package for those farmers who had been repaying their loans honestly. In Friday’s meeting Pawar gave a few very valuable suggestions in this regard,” the minister said.
He also claimed that the loan waiver in Maharashtra would be historic in scale. “No other state has ever waived off loans like the way we are planning and we shall raise money for that,” Patil said.
Loans on the farm lands up to 54 acres and up to Rs 1 lakh and till June 30, 2016 would in all cost up to Rs 37,000 crore to the state exchequer, he said.
While UP is 2.5 times bigger than Maharashtra, size of their waiver is Rs 36,000 crore and Maharashtra’s size would be Rs 37,000 crore.
This would give you an idea as to how big the Maharashtra’s waiver would be for the farmers, he added.
According to sources ,the proposal is likely to be finalised in a couple of days and it might come before the cabinet on Tuesday.