Waive loans of welfare boards for backward groups: Athawale

Union minister Ramdas Athawale on Sunday demanded the Maharashtra government write off loans taken by people from state-run welfare boards set up to help backward class communities.

The demand from the Union minister of state for social justice and empowerment came against the backdrop of Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray announcing a waiver for crop loans, outstanding till September 30 this year, in the Assembly on Saturday.

The loan waiver announced by the CM has an upper ceiling of Rs 2 lakh.

Addressing a press conference, Athawale said Thackeray had not specified the details of the waiver, nor funds available for it.

Queried on NCP chief Sharad Pawar seeking a SIT probe, headed by a retired judge, into Pune police's action against activists in the Elgar Parishad case, Athawale said, "If Pawar is asking for a fair investigation into the case, then there is nothing wrong with it".

Pawar has been chief minister of the state and had always stood behind the police, Athawale added.

Several activists were booked for their alleged Maoist links and other charges following violence at Koregaon Bhima village in Pune district on January 1 last year.

According to Pune police, "inflammatory" speeches and "provocative" statements made at the Elgar Parishad conclave held in Pune on December 31, 2017 triggered caste violence at Koregaon Bhima the next day.

Athawale said police had performed their duties in the Koregaon Bhima violence episode in a "proper way".