Granting relief to farmers, the Maharashtra government on Saturday announced a farm loan waiver of Rs 34,000 crore.
The decision was announced by Maharashtra chief minister, Devendra Fadnavis, after a meeting of the state cabinet.
“We have decided to write off loans upto Rs1.5 lakh of individual farmers,” Fadnavis announced at a press conference in Mumbai. Loans of about 40 lakh farmers will be waived by this decision. Further, incentive will be given to farmers who have been paying regularly. 25 percent of their loans will be paid off if they have repaid. “About 89 lakh farmers will be benefitted by the decision,” Fadnavis said.
With an upper limit of Rs 1.5 lakh, loans taken by farmers till June 2016 will be waived off by the government.
The decision comes in wake of the widespread protests by farmers demanding loan waiver.
The package will also have a special scheme for farmers who have been paying their dues regularly.
Meanwhile, the Congress had also opposed the proposed upper limit of Rs1 lakh as loan waiver per farmer.
The BJP-led state government agreed to waive farmers’ loans after farmers carried protests in various parts of the state.
