Oppn stages protest on Maharashtra Vidhan Bhavan steps over farm loan waiver

Mumbai (PTI): Ahead of the monsoon session, Opposition parties staged a protest on the steps of the Maharashtra legislature complex here on Monday against the Devendra Fadnavis-led government, demanding a complete farm loan waiver with minimal technical conditions.

The protesters, led by Shiv Sena (UBT) legislators Aaditya Thackeray, Ambadas Danve and Congress's Satej Patil, raised slogans against the government.

"The farmers should get complete loan waiver. The government should implement it," they demanded.

The state government has announced a loan waiver for farmers, but the Opposition claimed that several conditions attached to the scheme would exclude many eligible beneficiaries.

NCP (SP) MLA Rohit Pawar protested earlier this month to press for removal of “stringent” conditions from the scheme and demand a blanket loan waiver for farmers.

On June 2, the Maharashtra cabinet approved a Rs 36,585 crore farm loan waiver scheme, which is expected to benefit nearly 56 lakh cultivators. The scheme, ‘Punyashlok Ahilyadevi Holkar Shetkari Karja-mukti Yojana’, provides a farm loan waiver of up to Rs 2 lakh. It has three components — loan waiver, one-time settlement (OTS) and incentive benefits — and there will be no landholding criterion for eligibility.

Under the waiver component, farmers whose total outstanding short-term crop loans, including principal and interest, are up to Rs 2 lakh will be eligible for complete debt relief. The loans must have been disbursed between April 1, 2019, and March 31, 2025; remained overdue as of September 30, 2025; and remained unpaid till March 31, 2026.

The farmers whose dues exceed Rs 2 lakh will be covered under the OTS component. Such borrowers will have to clear the amount above Rs 2 lakh, after which they will become eligible for a waiver of Rs 2 lakh. They have been given until March 31, 2027, to deposit their share of the outstanding amount.