Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis. (File)With the Maharashtra government set to expand the scope of its farm loan waiver scheme ahead of the state polls, Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis told that the legislative Assembly Thursday that this could cost the state exchequer an additional Rs 8,000 crore.
The state government has spent Rs 24,000 crore over the farm loan waiver, which was rolled out in June 2017. While Fadnavis said that 50 lakh farmers had availed the benefit of the scheme so far, he also announced a fresh plan to include all those marginal farmers, who were found ineligible for the benefit for technical reasons, under its ambit. The government has been writing off outstanding farm loans payable by marginal farmers till June 30, 2016.
On Thursday, Fadnavis said, “At least 24,000 crore has been spent under the scheme. Of the 50 lakh farmer beneficiaries, the money in this regard has been distributed for 43.32 lakh accounts, while it will soon be disbursed for the remaining accounts.”
Contending that 85 per cent of farmers in the state had been covered under the scheme, Fadnavis discussed the plan to expand the scheme’s ambit. “Details of the number of additional beneficiaries and the burden on the state exchequer are still being worked out. But an initial estimate is that this could cost another Rs 8,000 crore,” he said.
Earlier on Tuesday, while presenting the budget for 2019-20, Finance Minister Sudhir Mungantiwar had first hinted at plans to expand the ambit of the scheme. Citing the successive drought spells over the past two years, the Opposition on Thursday continued to press for a new farm debt waiver package. Agrarian distress has been on the rise in Maharashtra with severe drought conditions ravaging both kharif and rabi cultivation.
Vouching for water and soil conservation works carried out under the government’s flagship Jalyukt Shivar initiative, Fadnavis said the “state’s dependence on rain-fed irrigation had decreased due to increase of assured irrigation owing to the implementation of the project.” He also said the watershed management works carried out under the initiative had helped “reduce the severity of drought.” At least 18,000 villages have benefited so far from the initiative, he added. Fadnavis made the announcement during his reply to the Governor’s speech.
