The State Government has formed a committee under the chairmanship of Praveen Singh Pardeshi to suggest short-term and long-term measures to get farmers out of debt. The committee will submit its report in the first week of April.
Mumbai: Former Maharashtra chief minister and Shiv Sena UBT chief Uddhav Thackeray has written to the Maharashtra government, urging that farmers be granted genuine debt relief. In the letter, he posed five key questions regarding the proposed loan waiver, including whether farmers should continue paying current installments if the waiver is implemented. Thackeray also accused the government of using delay tactics to stall action on loan waiver.
The State Government has formed a committee under the chairmanship of Praveen Singh Pardeshi to suggest short-term and long-term measures to get farmers out of debt. The committee will submit its report in the first week of April. Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis has announced that a decision on loan waiver will be taken before June 30, 2026 after studying the recommendations of the committee.
“If there is really going to be a loan waiver in June next year, should the farmers pay the current loan installments? If these installments are going to be waived in the June loan waiver next year, why should they pay them? Will farmers get loans for Rabbi crops without paying them? If they are going to get new loans, will they also be waived? Who will answer these questions?” asked Thackeray.
Farmers want their damaged agricultural lands to be made cultivable again, but the government was doing nothing about it, he added.
Expressing anger over rising cases of farmer suicides in Marathwada, Vidarbha, and North Maharashtra, Thackeray said the government seems unmoved. “Fixing June next year for loan waiver is rubbing salt into farmers’ wounds. By delaying the decision, the government is pushing farmers closer to death. The government wants farmers to stay silent till next June. Stop this game of deception and immediately announce a complete loan waiver for farmers trapped in this unprecedented crisis,” he said.
Farmers protesting for a farm loan waiver withdrew their agitation in Nagpur on Thursday night after Mr. Fadnavis announced a timeline for its implementation. He said the state government is committed to it and it will be done before June 30 next year.
Heavy rains and subsequent flooding in parts of Maharashtra, especially Marathwada, in September, led to large-scale crop losses with the fertile soil on their farmland getting washed away.
