Farmers must file claim by September 15

Mumbai: The cabinet’s sub committee for farmers’ loan waiver has decided on a deadline for filing the online form to claim the loan waiver. The farmers will have to file the claim form before September 15. By September 30, the government will scrutinise these forms and from October 1, the government will start depositing money in the loan accounts of the farmers.

Interestingly, this deadline of filing the form contradicts chief minister Devendra Fadnavis’ assurance that the ‘scheme will continue till the last farmer receive benefit’.

The committee, under the chairmanship of revenue minister Chandrakant Patil, met in Mumbai on Tuesday and decided the said timeline to complete the procedure.

“The farmers will have to file the online form by September 15. This date is for the smooth implementation of the scheme,” said co-operative minister Subhash Deshmukh after the meeting.

The committee has also decided to declare a list of farmers benefiting from the scheme as per the tehsils they reside in. “We aim to start depositing the farmers’ money starting October 1,” informed Mr Deshmukh.

 While addressing BJP’s state executive meeting, the CM had said on August 17 that farmer loan waiver scheme will continue until the last eligible farmer will receive the waiver’s benefit.

On this backdrop, when it’s already known that filing online forms is a hurdle for farmers, the decision might hit the seekers negatively. “We have decided to start all the online centres which were shut due to various reasons to ensure that no farmer is left behind,” said Mr Deskhmukh.

According to the information released by the government, a total of 22,44,934 farmers have registered for the loan waiver scheme. And, 18,85,457 farmers have filed the online form of the scheme.