Mumbai, Nov 3 (IANS) Shiv Sena(UBT) Chief Uddhav Thackeray on Monday accused the Mahayuti government of mocking the plight of rain and flood-hit farmers in the state and demanded that the loan waiver be approved immediately.

Thackeray made this statement in response to Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis’ remark that the decision on farm loan waivers will be made by June 30 next year. He called for the government to implement farm loan waivers without delay, highlighting that this is urgently needed to help farmers affected by the crisis.

He also announced his plans to visit flood-affected Marathwada for four days starting November 5 to assess what aid they have received or have been deprived of from the government’s relief package.

At the press conference here, Thackeray said, “Farmers have taken to the streets demanding farm loan waiver. The Chief Minister has promised that it will be done by next June. If a loan waiver is going to happen in June next year, should the farmers pay the instalments on the loans till then or not? The Chief Minister made an absurd statement that if a loan waiver is done now, it will benefit the banks. How can the loan waiver done now benefit the banks, and if the loan waiver is done in June next year, it will not benefit the banks?”

He also criticised the visit of the Central team to villages hit by natural disasters and asked how the team would inspect the damage caused by heavy rain and floods in Marathwada in just two to three days.

“The government announced a relief package. After that, we took out a morcha. Even today, the farmers have the same demand: they should be freed from debt. The Central inspection team will come. This visit is for two to three days. After the inspection tour of Marathwada, estimating the damage, when will the proposal be sent? How will the entire Marathwada be seen in two to three days?” he asked.

“The Prime Minister told the Chief Minister to send a proposal seeking Central government aid. I don’t think any proposal has been sent to the Central government by the state government. It is a joke that the farmers of Palghar district have received only two rupees and some money regarding crop insurance compensation,” he claimed.

Thackeray reiterated that the government should not waste time but provide a farm loan waiver immediately. “…The government has promised them a loan waiver by June next year, and the Central team is now going to inspect the damage in the state… the government is only making fun of the farmers,” he alleged.

He further added that the government should pay attention to the demand made by farmers to provide aid of Rs 50,000 per hectare.

Thackeray recalled that after he became the chief minister in November 2019, during the winter session, he declared a waiver of crop loans up to Rs 2 lakh. “The scheme we successfully implemented. The system and the data are the same. Then why are you not announcing the second phase of the loan waiver? People have accepted that we have done it. We did not put any conditions. We treated the farmers honestly. Why is this government not acting like that?” he asked.

–IANS

sj/dpb