Mumbai: Finally, the Maha Vikas Aghadi government is going to implement the Mahatma Jyotirao Phule loan waiver scheme from February 22. For this, the state cabinet on Wednesday decided to spend Rs 10,000 crore from its contingency fund. The announcement came as the MVA wanted to avoid any criticism on the issue during the budget session starting February 24.
As per bankers' estimate, a minimum of Rs 45,000 crore is needed for implementation of this scheme. The state is expected to make provision for the additional funds in the regular budget scheduled to be tabled on March 6. Rs 10,000 crore will be spent till March 5.
An ordinance to facilitate withdrawal of the amount will be promulgated soon, a statement from the Chief Minister's Office said.
The government had announced loan waiver to farmers who had taken loan up to Rs 2 lakh during the winter session of the Assembly at Nagpur in December 2019. It had announced to implement the scheme by the last week of February 2020.
The farmers who availed loans up to Rs 2 lakh during the period between April 1, 2015 to March 2019 and not paid back till September 30, 2019 are eligible for this scheme.
