6.85 lakh farmers staring at loan deadline

Mumbai: The Bharatiya Janata Party-led state government, which cleverly sidestepped the farmer loan waiver issue in the budget that was presented on last Saturday, has to clear its stand soon over the same. Almost 6.85 lakh farmers, whose loans had been restructured in June 2016, have to settle their debts by March 31, failing with they will be charged interest, which would otherwise be waived off. Given the condition of agricultural sector this year, many farmers couldn’t repay their loans so far. In a way, many could be waiting for the government’s announcement over the loan waiver, which would bring them complete relief.

The total loan amount of these farmers is in the region of Rs 5,000 crore.

The budget session of Maharashtra legislature had seen an uproar over the farmer loan waiver issue. The recently presented state budget was also a wash out due to the ruckus in the House that was created by the Opposition over the loan waiver demand. But by merely giving an assurance of ‘relief to farmers’, the government tried to rescue itself from having to make the announcement, which could lead to a financial crisis.

State government has restructured loans of the 6.85 lakh farmers in June 2016 as they had failed to repay their loans by then. The farmers must now to pay the first instalment by the end of the ongoing financial year to benefit from the zero-interest scheme.

The state government had said it is thinking about ‘some kind of relief to farmers’. As of now not only funds but also waiving off loans is a critical issue before the government, as 52.25 lakh farmers took loans worth Rs 38,091 crore from various banks in the financial year 2016-17.