Maharashtra withdraws farm loan waiver eligibility conditions, says CM Fadnavis

Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis on Friday announced that the Maharashtra government has withdrawn the eligibility conditions for the farm loan waiver after requests from legislators. Replying to the Opposition's motion in the Assembly, he also rejected allegations that smart meters had increased electricity bills and dismissed claims that Maharashtra tops the country in crime.

Farm scheme

Fadnavis said the eligibility conditions were proposed to maintain financial discipline and protect the banking system, not because the government doubted farmers. He said repeated loan waivers affect repayment behaviour and banks' willingness to lend. However, the conditions were withdrawn following demands from legislators.

Maharashtra is the only state to announce successive farm loan waivers in 2017, 2020, and now 2026. Fadnavis said excluding beneficiaries of previous waivers was not new, citing similar conditions in the 2009 and 2020 schemes. He  added that the government has now decided, for the first time, to allow farmers who benefited under the previous loan waiver scheme to be eligible for the immediate next waiver. He also announced that farmers who have regularly repaid their dues for two out of the last three years will also qualify for the scheme. Removing the conditions will increase the scheme’s cost by around Rs 4,000 crore. The Cabinet has approved a Rs 36,585-crore package expected to benefit nearly 56 lakh farmers, with the final outgo likely to be higher.

Power push

Fadnavis rejected allegations that smart meters were responsible for higher electricity bills, saying the prolonged heatwave pushed peak power demand from 28,000 MW to 32,000 MW. He said the government has installed over 1.23 crore smart meters, and only 210 of the 3.92 lakh complaints received were found to be genuine. Similar increases in electricity consumption were recorded even in areas without smart meters, indicating that higher usage, not the meters, caused the spike in bills. 

The CM also announced that all critical power infrastructure will be installed at higher elevations to minimise flood-related disruptions. Referring to the three-day power outage in the Vasai-Virar region, he said even areas not traditionally prone to flooding were inundated due to unprecedented rainfall.

1.23 cr
No. of smart meters installed across Maharashtra

* This article was originally published here