Maharashtra allots Rs 142,400 mn for farm loan waivers, cropping

The Maharashtra government today made allocations worth Rs 14,240 crore for the farm loan waiver scheme and for repayment to farmers whose produce was purchased by the state.

The state's cooperation and marketing department today issued a Government Resolution (GR) for the allocation of Rs 142,400 million for the Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Shetkari Sanman Yojana - the loan waiver scheme announced on June 24 last year.

At the time of the announcement, the state had claimed that the total outlay of the scheme would be Rs 340,200 million.

"The GR means that the state government has prepared itself for disbursement of the amount under the loan waiver scheme. The government had during the last monsoon session made an allocation of Rs 200,000 million and a major portion of it has been disbursed," a senior official of the cooperation department said.

Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley had last year said that the Centre will not be part of a state's fiscal leverage in waiving farm loans and the cost has to be borne by the states.

The allocation of Rs 14,000 crore was sanctioned during the winter session of the state Assembly held in Nagpur last month.