The Maharashtra government on Wednesday issued the Government Resolution (GR) for the farm loan waiver scheme and outlined the terms and conditions for eligibility.
According to the GR, farmers who have defaulted on crop loans between 2019 and 2025 will be eligible for a loan waiver of up to Rs 2 lakh. Farmers whose crop loans were restructured and who remained defaulters during the same period will also be eligible for a waiver of up to Rs 2 lakh.
Further, farmers who availed the benefit of the 2019 farm loan waiver scheme and have continued to remain defaulters between 2019 and 2025 will be eligible for a benefit of up to Rs 50,000.
“The farmers who have not defaulter of his crop loan and have been paying the loan regularly on time in the last three years, including the current year's crop loan, are eligible to get an incentive of Rs 50,000 as a reward. The farmers who are not defaulters but their crop loan amount is less than Rs 50,000 are offered Rs 5,000 as an incentive or reward,” the GR read.
The GR also lists categories of people who will not qualify for the farm loan waiver scheme.
“The sitting and former members of Parliament, minister and ex-minister, current and former MLAs and MLCs, local body members that include district, Taluka Panchayat members, Municipal Corporation corporators and municipality members will not be eligible to avail the crop loan waiver scheme benefit.
The employees of state and central government whose salary is more than Rs 25,000 per month, and employees of state government-run and aided bodies whose salary is more than Rs 25,000 per month, are disqualified from the farm loan waiver scheme.
The farmers who are paying income tax other than farm income are not eligible for this scheme. The retired employees whose pension is more than Rs 25,000 are not eligible for the farm loan waiver. Besides, office bearers and workers who are engaged in co-operative sugar, milk, textile mills, banks, etc and drawing more than Rs 25,000 monthly as salary are disqualified for this said scheme,” GR read.
The state government has constituted a seven-member committee headed by the Chief Minister to implement the farm loan waiver scheme.
The Opposition criticised the BJP-led Mahayuti government for imposing what it described as numerous hurdles in the implementation of the scheme. Vijay Wadettiwar, Congress Legislature Party leader and Congress MLA, said the GR appeared to be aimed more at preventing farmers from receiving the benefits of the crop loan waiver than facilitating access to them.