Loan waiver scheme: Maharashtra govt receives 77.26 lakh applications

The Maharashtra government has received applications from 77.26 lakh farmers across the state to avail the benefits of the Rs 34,022 crore farm loan waiver scheme.

These applications were received from 56 lakh farmers' families, an official statement issued by state cooperation minister Subhash Deshmukh said.

According to the statement, of the total applicants, 2,41,628 farmers are yet to provide their Aadhaar number.

An official from the cooperation department said, "The farmers will be asked to submit their receipt number given at the time of Aadhaar registration. It will be temporarily used for the verification purposes."

The last date of receiving applications under the 'Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Krushi Sanman Yojana' loan waiver scheme was September 22.

Deshmukh today held a review meeting of the cabinet subcommittee, which had been formed to deliberate on the intricacies in the implementation of the loan waiver scheme.

In order to apply for the scheme, the farmers had been asked to register with 'Aaple Sarkar' portal of the state government with details of bank accounts and Aadhaar number. The government had also sought details of the overdue crop loans from every bank in the state.

"The information will then be cross-checked and the verified farmers will become eligible for loan waiver scheme," an official from the state cooperation department said.

The list of eligible farmers will be filtered further based on other guidelines of the state government, such as only one person in a family will get the benefit of the loan waiver.

The state government will also hold open reading out of the farmers' names in the list and estimated loan waiver amount in every village. The move is aimed at bringing transparency as the villagers might be able to point out the undue beneficiaries.

Deshmukh said that out of the 30 district central cooperative banks, 28 have got their data verified from the Information and Technology department of the state government. These banks supply credit at large in rural areas and have farmers accounts with them.

Some 16 banks have even submitted information about overdue loans with the state government and it is being verified, the minister said in the statement.

"The 20 commercial banks, out of 43 in Maharashtra, have submitted their data of outstanding loans with state IT department and department approved reports of eight banks so far. The 28 banks have filled information of over half of their total data on outstanding loans of farmers," he said.