Daijiworld Media Network - Mumbai

Mumbai, Aug 8: The Mahayuti government in Maharashtra on Friday began disbursing funds under the Punyashlok Ahilyadevi Holkar farm loan waiver scheme, with Rs 5,027 crore transferred directly into the bank accounts of 6.2 lakh farmers.

The scheme is estimated to benefit around 54.6 lakh farmers.

Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis said around 18-19 lakh bank accounts had initially been identified, of which nearly 12 lakh were sent back to banks for verification due to errors.

“Of the 18-19 lakh bank accounts identified, around 12 lakh accounts have been sent back to the banks for verification on account of errors. Once these are cleared, the disbursal will continue,” Fadnavis said.

He said that once the beneficiaries were identified, their names would be displayed at the respective gram panchayat offices. Farmers would only need to provide their Aadhaar number and Farmer ID to receive the benefit and would not be required to fill out any forms.

Asked when the disbursal to all 54.6 lakh estimated beneficiaries would be completed, Fadnavis said around 80% of such roll-outs generally progressed quickly, while the remaining 20% could take longer due to technical issues.

He said these issues usually involved duplicate bank accounts or errors in farmers' names or account numbers. In some cases, beneficiaries may have died while the land continued to remain in their names without being legally transferred or divided among their heirs.

The state government announced the loan waiver on June 2 as part of a promise made in the Mahayuti's 2024 Assembly election manifesto.

The scheme covers short-term crop loans of up to Rs 2 lakh taken between April 1, 2019 and March 31, 2025.

The scheme has three components — debt waiver, one-time settlement and incentive benefits for farmers who regularly repay their loans.

The first phase will focus on the loan waiver, while incentive benefits for regular borrowers will be provided in the second phase.