Mumbai: BJP criticism notwithstanding, the Maha Vikas Aghadi government has put the implementation of ambitious Mahatma Jyotiba Phule crop loan waiver scheme on the fast track. After depositing Rs 130 crore in the loan accounts of 15,358 farmers from 68 villages since the announcement on Monday, the state government on Saturday released the second list of 21.82 lakh farmers from 15 of the 36 districts.
A senior bureaucrat told FPJ,'' By Saturday evening the authentication of over 1,42,672 of the total 21.82 lakh farmers has already been completed. The transfer of money in the loan accounts of such farmers has begun. In view of the announcement of election to over 1,500 village panchayats, the government has partially released list of 13 districts while six districts have not been covered due to election code of conduct. The government has approached the state election commission to allow the release of the list and for implementation of the crop loan waiver in these districts too.''
The officer informed that the government has already made the provision of Rs 15,000 crore in the supplementary demands tabled in the state legislature on February 24. In addition, the state cabinet has approved increasing the contingency fund to Rs 10,000 crore for the implementation of crop loan waiver.Of the 21.82 lakh farmers, nearly 2.52 lakh farmers are from the sugarcane and cooperative rich Ahmednagar district in western Maharashtra and 46,424 are from Wardha district in the underdeveloped Vidarbha region.
The officer said the money in the loan account of farmers in the commercial banks has been transferred through the National Payment Corporation of India (NPCI). In case of the district central cooperative banks, the money has transferred to NPCI in the pool account and later deposited in the loan account of the farmers.The government expects to cover 36.45 lakh loan accounts of farmers but so far 34.98 lakh loan accounts were uploaded on the government portal.
''The commercial banks have been given 24 hours for transfer of money to the loan account of the farmers. The district central cooperative banks are supposed to transfer the money in 48 hours. All the technical snags were removed and the transfer of money is taking place quite smoothly,'' the officer said.The government had set the target of May 31 to cover all 34.98 lakh loan accounts uploaded on its portal. ''However, in view of the speed in which the money transfer is taking place, the government feels that the exercise should be over by maximum by April 15. The idea is with the debt free accounts, the farmers will be eligible for fresh loans for the next kharif season,'' the officer said.
The opposition BJP had criticised the government's crop loan waiver and condemned the release of a selective list. Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar had declared that the government will also cover farmers affected by floods and untimely rains under the crop loan waiver scheme.
