Maharashtra BJP protests against govt in state over farm loan waiver

Accusing the Maharashtra government of not keeping the loan waiver promise made to farmers, the BJP staged protests in parts of the state on Tuesday. Speaking to reporters outside the Legislature building, Leader of Opposition in the state Assembly Devendra Fadnavis said the protests will continue till the cultivators get justice.

Protests were being staged by the BJP outside tehsil offices in the state, he said. Fadnavis, Maharashtra BJP president Chandrakant Patil and former state finance minister Sudhir Mungantiwar took part in a protest over the issue at the Azad Maidan in Mumbai. A BJP delegation will raise the issue with GovernorBhagat Singh Koshyari later in the evening, Fadnavis said.

"There are 1.45 crore farmers. But the government has released a list of only 15,000 farmers (for grant of loan waiver)," the former chief minister said.

He claimed that not even 25 per cent of farmers in are part of the list.

"We are trying to raise the issues concerning farmers before the government. Our struggle against the government will continue till the farmers get justice inside the House and outside it as well," he said.

He also said that more than 50,000 farmers from Kolhapur district have written a letter to Koshyari, alleging false loan waiver promise. The letter will be submitted to the governor in the evening, the BJP leader said. The Maharashtra Assembly was on Tuesday adjourned for the day after pandemonium over the farm loan waiver issue.

The state government on Monday released the first list of 15,358 beneficiaries of the farm loan waiver scheme. On the occasion, Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray and his deputy Ajit Pawar interacted via video conferencing with some farmers whose bank accounts were credited with funds.

"Under the Mahatma Jyotirao Phule farm loan waiver scheme, 34,83,908 farmer accounts have been identified," said a statement issued by the Chief Minister's Office (CMO).

Thackeray said the scheme's implementation has been done within 60 days of its announcement, and credited the state machinery for the speedy execution. The scheme to write off debts of farmers whose crop loan outstanding is up to Rs two lakh till September 30, 2019, was announced by the chief minister in December last year, after he took charge of the coalition government.