In a sigh of relief to farmers, the Eknath Shinde-led Maharashtra government has decided to waive off loans of over INR 964 crores taken by them from land development banks (LDBs) in the state.
If reports are to be believed, over 34,000 farmers had taken loans from these banks over two decades ago, mortgaging their land as collateral. As many as 34,788 farmers will benefit from the move and 1,70,502 acres of farmland will be freed from mortgage.
Besides, the state cabinet has also sanctioned the payment of another INR 275.40 crores to employees of LDBs for the Voluntary Retirement Scheme (VRS) and other dues.
In addition, the 7/12 extract (property card) of these lands will be cleared. In essence this means that farmers will be able to sell their lands or take fresh loans against them if required.
Moreover, on the same day, the state government transferred INR 2,500 crores to the bank accounts of 6.90 lakh farmers who had repaid their loans regularly. While declaring the loan waiver scheme, the state government had declared that it would give an incentive of INR 50,000 per head to all such farmers.
These decisions were taken in the state cabinet meeting which was held on Thursday, October 20.
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