MUMBAI: The special Rs 20 lakh crore relief package announced last month by the Centre to bring back on track the economy hit by coronavirus lockdown is not helping the poor much, Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar said on Tuesday.
Pawar, who also holds the finance portfolio, said Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray has raised the issue before Prime Minister Narendra Modi and pushed for transferring monetary assistance directly into the bank accounts of the poor hit by the lockdown.
The NCP minister said the state government has given guarantee to banks to ensure farmers who were eligible for loan waiver get new crop loans in view of the kharif season.
He said the state government is focusing on containing the spread of COVID-19 in Maharashtra and bringing the mortality rate down after easing of the lockdown.
The economy is not back on track yet.
To some extent, it is coming back on track in a staggered manner.
It is not like that the package will help immediately.
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the package does not help daily wage earners, Pawar told reporters here.
A big section of such people needs to be given help directly in their bank accounts.
The chief minister is discussing this issue with the prime minister, he said.
Pawar made the remarks during a press conference held to inform about the relief work the NCP's Welfare Trust carried out during the lockdown period.
Maharashtra Ministers Jayant Patil and Nawab Malik and NCP MPs Supriya Sule and Sunil Tatkare, too, were present on the occasion.
Pawar added he, too, has sent a letter to Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on the issue.
But I dont think the package is helping enough, the state finance minister said.
Pawar said private hospitals were not sharing information regarding deaths of COVID-19 patients immediately with municipal corporations or the state government.
Hence, the mortality is not reflected immediately in the government reports, he added.
The matter is being probed.
Things will be clear after the inquiry, he added.
On the crop loan issue, Pawar said the state government has given guarantee to banks so that peasants get new debts as the kharif season gets underway.
He said 11 lakh farmers are eligible for the loan waiver initiative which would cost Rs 8,000 crore to the government.
However, the outbreak of COVID-19 disrupted the process as the state government stopped getting taxes during March and April.
Hence, we told banks to give new crop loans to farmers.
We told the banks that the state government will give Rs 8,000 crore and interest on that, he said.
Pawar said the state cooperative and district banks have already started giving new crop loans to farmers after the government gave them guarantee.
Among others, the NCP leader also sought to downplay reports of bickering within the ruling Maha Vikas Aghadi, claiming the Congress was unhappy over not having enough say in decision-making process of the government.
The Congress and the NCP are constituents of the Shiv Sena-led MVA government.