Uddhav Thackeray says Rs 4,807 crore disbursed to 7.65 lakh farmers under Maharashtra loan waiver scheme

Mumbai: Maharashtra chief minister Uddhav Thackeray on Tuesday said Rs 4,807 crore has been deposited into the bank accounts of 7.65 lakh farmers under the Mahatma Phule farm loan waiver scheme. Talking to reporters at the Vidhan Bhawan, Thackeray said the government has already started making farmers, who took loans of up to Rs 2 lakh, debt-free. [caption id=“attachment_8113301” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] File photo of Maharashtra chief minister Uddhav Thackeray. PTI[/caption] “Till Tuesday noon, authentication of 10 lakh beneficiary accounts has been done with Aadhaar cards and an amount of Rs 4,807 crore has been deposited into the accounts of 7.65 lakh farmers,” he said. The chief minister said 35.8 lakh farmer accounts have been uploaded on a special portal created for the implementation of the loan waiver scheme. “In the first list, 15,358 bank accounts in 68 villages were declared and in the second list 21.81 lakh farm accounts from 15 districts were declared,” he said. He further said that five lakh bank accounts will be declared later, as the model code of conduct is in force for gram panchayat elections in six districts of Gadchiroli, Amravati, Yavatmal, Nanded, Nandurbar and Nashik. “We will waive of loans of those whose loan accounts are linked with Aadhaar,” he said. The scheme to write off outstanding crop loan of up to Rs 2 lakh, as on 30 September, 2019, was announced by the three-party Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government in December last year. “The MVA government’s loan waiver scheme will be implemented within the stipulated time frame. My government will pay attention to see farmers remain happy,” he added. The portal, which is in Marathi language, was developed by the state government’s IT department in 28 days. There was no involvement of private tenders, Thackeray said. The portal has a high capacity server and cloud technology, he said, adding that authentication of four lakh farmers is done every day. Unlike the loan waiver scheme of the previous government, farmers do not have to fill online forms. They don’t have to login or stand in queues, he added.