Centre considering loan waiver to farmers: Kadam

Nagpur, Nov 14: The Central government is contemplating to waive off the outstanding loans of farmers holding less than five acres of land, Maharashtra Minister for Co-operation and Rehabilitation Patangrao Kadam said.

Talking to reporters here today, Mr Kadam said he personally felt that farmers holding less than five acres of land should be given complete loan waiver, especially in the six districts of Vidarbha region, which is the worst affected by farmers' suicides.

The Minister said he had apprised the Centre of his view and discussions were being held on the issue and a decision was expected soon.

He said the Maharashtra government had formed a cabinet sub-committee under his chairmanship to determine the compensation to be paid to farmers, whose land was acquired for special economic zones (SEZs) in the state. The Industries Department had been told not to approve any proposal for an SEZ unless it was cleared by the sub-committee.

As per the Centre's instructions, the sub-committee would ensure that fertile and irrigated land was not acquired for an SEZ, Mr Kadam said, adding that a proposal from the Reliance Group for an SEZ in Navi Mumbai was under consideration.

The activists have been demanding complete waiver of loans for farmers in Vidarbha to bail them out of the agrarian crisis in the region. However, Maharashtra Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh said here last week that waiver would not resolve their problems because they would obtain new loans and get into financial trouble again.

The Centre would release Rs 17,000 crore for strengthening of the cooperative movement in the country as per the recommendations of the Vaidyanathan Committee, the Minister said.

The amount would be utilised to compensate the losses incurred by primary credit societies, with the Centre contributing 68 per cent and the state government concerned 32 per cent of the money required, he informed.

Maharashtra would get about Rs 4,000 crore from the Centre for the revival of primary credit societies in the state, he said and added a proper audit of the societies would be carried out to ensure that only genuine losses were compensated and not money lost due to corruption.

Mr Kadam arrived here this morning on a day's tour of Vidarbha to participate in the party's campaign for forthcoming municipal council elections slated for November 19.

UNI