Maharashtra Freezes Farm Loan Waiver To Verify Beneficiaries
Maharashtra expects to complete re-verification by November 15.
The Maharashtra government has frozen its farm loan waiver to reverify beneficiaries after names of 100 farmers were found to be linked to the same Aadhaar number.
Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis convened a meeting with the State Level Banking Committee as well as the IT department to fix the problem. Calling it “a technical glitch” at the time the list was compiled by banks, State Finance Minister Sudhir Mungantiwar said it was the “priority of the government to set this right”.
The government expects the complete reverification by November 15. It earlier aimed at disbursing money by October-end.
About 77 lakh farmers applied for the waiver after the state decided to pardon loans worth Rs 34,000 crore. The state had agreed to forego up to Rs 1.5 lakh each and waive Rs 25,000 for those regularly repaying debt. The government, which started disbursing funds last week, has already paid 8.4 lakh people.
Applications of who have received the money won’t face scrutiny, Mungantiwar said.