Congress slams Raje govt for altering loan waiver scheme

Rajasthan Congress chief Sachin Pilot today hit out at the Raje government, claiming its loan waiver scheme was burdening the state despite rising fiscal deficit.

The criticism comes as the state government came out with an order barring present and former ministers of the state and the Centre, MLAs, income-tax payee farmers from the Rajasthan Crop Loan Waiver Scheme, 2018.

It also bars present and former officers and employees of the Centre and pensioners from the scheme, which was announced by Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje in her Budget speech 2018-19.

Fiscal deficit of the state in 2014 was Rs 1.2 lakh crore and it has shot up to Rs 2.4 lakh crore at present. CM Raje knows that they (BJP) are not going to make government in the state (again) and is burdening the state by taking loans to fulfil promises of waiving-off loans of farmers, Pilot told PTI.

At the Banswara camp on May 31, loans of 1.94 lakh farmers amounting to Rs 250 crore will be waived.

He said, earlier, the scheme was announced for loans taken from cooperative banks whereas 80 per cent loans were availed from non-cooperative banks.

A senior government official said that the decision by the Rajasthan Cooperative Department to leave out some categories of farmers was a policy matter of the state government.

The financial implication of keeping the categories out of the waiver scheme has not been worked out. It was not a consideration before making the announcement and it is a policy matter decision taken by the state government, he said on condition of anonymity.