Nashik: Withdraw Restrictive Conditions In Loan Waiver Scheme Or Face Agitation, Warns MP Bhaskar Bhagare

Nashik: MP Bhaskar Bhagare has criticized the Maharashtra government's recently announced loan waiver scheme, alleging that its restrictive conditions will deprive lakhs of farmers of benefits and effectively turn it into a loan recovery scheme rather than a genuine debt relief measure.

Bhagare stated that farmers have been facing severe financial distress over the past three years due to unseasonal rains, drought-like conditions, rising cultivation costs, and inadequate prices for agricultural produce. Given these hardships, farmers had high expectations for the loan waiver announcement. However, he argued that the condition limiting benefits to only ₹50,000 for farmers who had already availed themselves of the 2019 loan waiver is unjust and will exclude a large number of eligible beneficiaries.

He pointed out that most farmers in the state have crop loans of around ₹1 lakh. As a result, farmers with outstanding dues exceeding ₹50,000 would first have to pay the remaining amount from their own pockets before becoming eligible for relief. According to Bhagare, this makes the scheme burdensome rather than beneficial for struggling farmers.

Demanding the immediate withdrawal of all restrictive conditions, Bhagare called for a universal loan waiver for farmers. He warned that if the government fails to revise the scheme, a strong public agitation would be launched to safeguard farmers’ rights.