Maharashtra Government Ready To Discuss Farm Loan Waiver

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led Maharashtra government on Wednesday said it is willing to discuss waiving loans of distressed farmers even as its ally Shiv Sena and the Opposition parties continued to disrupt both houses of the state legislature over the issue.

The government needs to calculate the burden on Maharashtra and how much help it could seek from the Centre for such a waiver, the state's Revenue Minister Chandrakant Patil said in the legislative council, the Upper House. Its own estimates suggest that the waiver could cost Rs 20,000-22,000 crore.

The demand for the waiver became louder after Prime Minister Narendra Modi reportedly said during the Uttar Pradesh election campaign that the BJP would waive loans of small and marginal farmers if it came to power in the state.

A prolonged drought has led to 8,000 farmer suicides in Maharashtra since 2014, a Question Hour booklet said.

Such a big decision on the waiver can't be taken on the floor of the house without any deliberations and Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis is ready to hold talks with members, Patil said.

The legislature resumed on Wednesday after a four-day Holi break. A special session was called to discuss the farm loan waiver in the Legislative Council, but could not function amid the uproar over the loan waiver.

The Opposition rejected the government's offer to discuss the matter. “Until the government decides on a complete farm loan waiver, we will not allow both the houses to function,” said Congress' Radhakrishna Vikhe-Patil, leader of opposition in the Maharashtra Legislative Assembly.

Senior Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) leader Sunil Tatkare, along with other members, demanded that an adjournment motion on the issue be put to vote.

Vikhe-Patil said if the government is willing to spend crores on advertising and marketing of different programmes, it is capable of spending when required. Waiving farmers' loans should be a priority, he said.

“There are no elections anytime soon. Hence, this is not a political demand,” said Jayant Patil, another senior NCP leader. Farmers did not earn enough to repay debt because of the drought and demonetisation only added to their troubles, he said.