Nagpur: NCP leader and former deputy chief minister Ajit Pawar on Wednesday reiterated Maha Vikas Aghadi government’s commitment to provide crop loan waiver to farmers.
However, to make the entire exercise transparent and avoid irregularities, the government mulls linking Aadhaar of the farmer whose loan will be written off.
Pawar, who is expected to get ministerial berth in the cabinet expansion slated for Monday or Tuesday, told FPJ, "Several farmers have multiple bank accounts. Linking Aadhaar card of farmers to this scheme will ensure the waiver is not passed on to multiple accounts of same farmer.
Unlike number of parameters and different colour cards introduced by the previous BJP-led govt for implementation of crop loan waiver, MVA govt will make the process simple.’’
Ajit Pawar disclosed that Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray and NCP chief Sharad Pawar on Thursday afternoon met to discuss the road map for execution of crop loan waiver in the state. However, the meeting remained inconclusive and it was decided to meet again.
Pawar recalled that the BJP-led government had initially announced the crop loan waiver worth Rs 34,500 crore to benefit 89 lakh farmers. However, the number of beneficiaries was ultimately reduced due to lot of conditions laid down by the government.
"So far of the Rs 24,000 crore, loan waiver worth Rs 18,891 crore is implemented. The MVA government will have to complete the disbursement of the balance amount. MVA government’s loan waiver will be in addition to this, which can be implemented in two phases,’’ he noted.
On the implementation of Citizenship Amendment Act in Maharashtra, the NCP leader said the government will seek Advocate General’s view in this regard.
