MUMBAI: The Maharashtra government on Friday extended by a week the deadline for online filing of loan waiver applications. The earlier deadline was September 15. Now it is September 22. Chief minister Devendra Fadnavis announced the decision on Twitter.
An officer in the chief minister's office said that as of Sept. 14, some 44 lakh farmers had not yet submitted their applications. While the total number of registrations until now is 98 lakh, some 50 lakh applications have been received.
The leader of the opposition in the state's Assembly, Radhakrishna Vikhe-Patil said the deadline extension is just eyewash.
"It appears as if the government wants to delay the disbursement of money to farmers. It's been more than three months since the government announced the scheme, but no money has reached the farmers. We have been raising several issues right from the beginning and the government should have corrected the flaws in the system rather than just giving a deadline extension," he said.
The Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) said the government has had to extend the deadline because online filing of loan waiver applications has proved to be a dud move.
"We saw how online publishing of Mumbai University results failed. The complete results are still not out. The decision to invite loan waiver applications online too has failed. That's why the deadline has been extended," said NCP spokesperson Nawab Malik.