Maharashtra Agriculture Minister Dattatray Bharne on Tuesday said no farmer with an outstanding crop loan of up to Rs 2 lakh would have to pay anything under the state government’s Punyashlok Ahilyadevi Holkar loan waiver scheme, and assured that any errors in records would be corrected. He said the state aims to cover 56 lakh farmers under the scheme, with an estimated outlay of Rs 40,000 crore.
His remarks came after some farmers alleged discrepancies in the beneficiary lists, bank records and the e-KYC portal, saying they were unsure about the actual waiver amount they would receive. Bharne said two beneficiary lists had already been released and more names would be added as farmers complete the e-KYC process.
Earlier this month, the state cabinet approved major changes to the scheme by removing key eligibility conditions, including the earlier Rs 50,000 upper limit for beneficiaries of the 2019 waiver. This has made farmers eligible for loan waiver benefits of up to Rs 2 lakh under the new scheme.
In Dharashiv district, Jeevan Vishnu Patil, a farmer from Gandhora village, said his outstanding crop loan with the Bank of Maharashtra was Rs 1.54 lakh, but the loan waiver list showed a benefit of only Rs 94,427. Patil claimed bank officials told him the remaining Rs 60,000 would have to be paid before the waiver could be processed. “With expenses towards my children’s education and sowing yet to begin because of the rains, I cannot arrange that money. This is not the relief we were promised,” he said, urging the government to correct the beneficiary list.
Similar concerns were raised in Hingoli district. Pramod Gajare, a farmer from Kadoli village, said the loan waiver list showed Rs 61,000, the e-KYC portal reflected Rs 1.31 lakh, and the bank told him his outstanding crop loan was Rs 82,000. He said the differing figures had left him confused about the amount that would actually be waived and whether he should complete the e-KYC process before the records were corrected.
Responding to the complaints, Bharne said, “If the crop loan outstanding amount is up to Rs 2 lakh, then the entire amount will be waived. Farmers will not have to pay any amount. If there are some errors, we will correct them.” He said 533 farmers were included in the first list and 16.95 lakh in the second. “As farmers complete their e-KYC, their names will be reflected in the lists to be released in the coming days,” he said. Bharne also confirmed that one farmer whose name did not appear in the released list had recently died by suicide, though he said there were other reasons behind the death.
The minister said sowing had been completed on 84 per cent of the state’s agricultural land, while some farmers were still unable to sow because of unfavourable conditions. On crop insurance complaints, he said he had written to the Union agriculture minister after receiving representations alleging that insurance companies were asking farmers who had taken loans from cooperative or nationalised banks to give up other benefits, and had asked for such practices to be stopped.
The Opposition Congress has already raised objections to the scheme. Senior Congress leader Vijay Wadettiwar had called it an “eyewash”, saying the supplementary demands placed in the legislature provided only Rs 20,000 crore for it, and questioning how the BJP-led Mahayuti government would meet the remaining gap of around Rs 16,000 crore. Bharne, however, said farmers with crop loans of up to Rs 2 lakh would get a full waiver and any discrepancies in records would be set right.
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