The farmers whose names were submitted to the government by the concerned District Central Cooperative Banks (DCCBs) under the loan waiver scheme will receive the disbursed amount in their bank accounts before Diwali, Maharashtra Agriculture Minister Pandurang Phundkar announced on Monday.
He said the government will release the funds to those districts where the DCC Banks have submitted the complete list of eligible farmers.
Some DCC banks which have branches across many districts are yet to send complete lists of loan waiver beneficiaries to the government.
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Responding to a query on the opposition's criticism that farmers are being charged for submitting online forms for the loan waiver scheme, Phundkar said, had it been the case, the administration would not have received about 55 lakh applications.
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The minister said eligible farmers who were are unable to apply due to problems in giving their thumb impressions, will be considered for a loan waiver in the next phase.
Bowing to protests by farmers, the state government in June had announced a Rs 34,000 crore loan waiver with caveats. Under the scheme, loans up to Rs 1.5 lakh per farmer will be waived.
When asked about recent deaths of farm labourers in Yavatmal district due to spraying of pesticides on cotton crops, Phundkar said Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis on Tuesday approved a probe under Additional Chief Secretary (Home). Expressing regret at the deaths, he conceded that there was negligence at multiple levels.
Although the government did not specify the number of deaths, eminent farm activist from Vidarbha, Kishor Tiwari, and the Shiv Sena said the pesticide exposure reported in Yavatmal district has claimed 18 lives so far. Phundkar said neither the concerned district collector nor the local police are aware of these cases.
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