Maharashtra loan waiver scheme to be implemented from 15 October, says minister Pandurang Fundkar

Mumbai: Maharashtra agriculture minister Pandurang Fundkar on Tuesday said the state government’s loan waiver scheme will be implemented from 15 October. “Maharashtra government will transfer sanctioned loan amount to farmers’ accounts, who are eligible for the waiver. The transfer of loan waiver amount will start from 15 October,” Fundkar told PTI after holding a meeting of minister’s sub-committee for loan waiver. [caption id=“attachment_3766309” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] File image of farmers’ protest demanding loan waiver. PTI[/caption] “We will transfer the amount to the loan account of farmers, and the bank will immediately deduct it to settle the loan amount,” he said. If all the accounts are not verified by 15 October, then in first phase amount of all the verified accounts will be transferred. The remaining beneficiaries will get their amount subsequently, said the minister. “Despite the challenge, we want to complete the execution of loan waiver scheme before Diwali,” said the agriculture minister. The farmers’ registration will go on till 22 September. The state officials will scrutinise the uploaded information on its portal and finalise the list of potential beneficiaries. “We are also planning to carry out a public reading of beneficiaries in every village. It will be useful for some cross-check of beneficiaries in the village,” Maharashtra cooperation minister Subhash Deshmukh told PTI. “The decision regarding such public reading of names and loan amount of beneficiaries is yet to be taken,” he said. The Maharashtra government had on 24 June announced a loan waiver scheme to settle loan amount up to Rs 1.50 lakh. The government has also decided that only one person in the family will get the benefit of the scheme. The government had claimed that some 44 lakh farmers will get direct benefit of the loan waiver while other farmers, who repay their loan regularly will also get some amount in return. The total number of beneficiaries thus will be as high as 89 lakh, Maharashtra chief minister Devendra Fadnavis had claimed.