MUMBAI: Even as the Maharashtra government has been settling dues of farmers under a loan waiver scheme, it is facing an unusual situation as around 45,000 eligible account holders have not yet come forward to claim the benefit of the scheme.
The Mahatma Jyotiba Phule scheme is meant to offload the debt burden of farmers in the state.
Talking to PTI, state Cooperation Minister Balasaheb Patil said, "There are some 45,000 bank accounts of farmers who have taken crop loans and failed to repay in time. They are eligible for the crop loan waiver scheme, but the account holders have not come forward to claim the benefit. Hence, these loans would not be waived."
Patil said it is the account holder's duty to approach a bank and submit the claim.
"If they come forward and make the claim, the state would consider their application," he said.
A senior official in the cooperation department said there were family disputes pertaining to some of these accounts.
"In some cases, the account holders died and the sons of the deceased inherited the debt. They do not come forward to claim the benefit of the scheme unless they agree on how to share the debt burden," he said.
Patil said the state has identified 32.82 lakh bank account holders eligible for the loan waiver scheme and out of them, 32.37 lakh have even completed their Aadhaar verification with the respective banks.
The state government has transferred Rs 20,250 crore to the banks and cleared the dues of the farmers, he said.
"The only issue remaining is that 54,000 account holders are eligible and all the required procedures have been fulfilled, but funds were not available. In the supplementary demands (tabled in the budget session of the state legislature), Rs 82 crore has been sought to cover these pending accounts. The dues of these accounts will be cleared by this financial year-end," the minister said.
Under the Mahatma Jyotiba Phule scheme, a farmer's loan up to Rs 2 lakh is eligible for a waiver and in this context, the state is facing another complex situation.
"There are cumulative dues worth Rs 9,000 crore of farmers having outstanding crop loan of more than Rs 2 lakh. Many of the farmers are from western Maharashtra and are into cash crops other than sugarcane," an official from the cooperation department said.
The western Maharashtra region, covering Pune, Satara, Sangli and Kolhapur districts, has a better irrigation network.
Besides sugarcane, farmers in the region have also started growing grapes and pomegranates.
The erratic weather, changes in import-export policies and non-availability of efficient logistic support are some of the reasons behind these farmers being unable to reap the benefits of horticulture, despite having a high return potential, the official said.
"There have been some deliberations at the state level to address the problems of farmers. We are trying to address the issue as the outstanding amount is as high as Rs 9,000 crore. It will take some time for the state to come up with some solution," he said.
Former MP and farmer leader Raju Shetti said the government is always keen on introducing a new policy for new varieties of crops and loan recovery.
"But, there is no support from the state to increase the earnings of farmers. There are no defined markets, no sufficient infrastructure to support the glut/ drop in production, as well as efficient transportation and storage of the produce," he claimed.