Opening the debate in the Legislative Council, BJP MLC Sujitsingh Thakur termed the Rs 34,000 crore Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Shetkari Saanman Yojana as "historic".
The politics surrounding the farm loan waiver refuses to die down as the BJP today termed its loan waiver decision as a bold, courageous and historic one while the opposition Congress-NCP slammed the government for the inordinate delay in announcing it.
Opening the debate in the Legislative Council, BJP MLC Sujitsingh Thakur termed the Rs 34,000 crore Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Shetkari Saanman Yojana as "historic".
He said that in the last two-and-half years the government has made Rs 40,000 crore investment in the agriculture sector so as to make the farmer self-reliant.
Thakur slammed the previous Congress-NCP government accusing it of making the farmer dependent on the state and forcing them to commit suicide.
The debate was briefly adjourned for 30 minutes as the opposition raised objection to the absence of bureaucrats and officials in the officers gallery.
Leading the opposition charge leader of opposition in legislative council, Dhananjay Munde accused the government of not being serious on the issue of loan waiver.
Slamming the government for moving a congratulatory motion, he said, "the government took three years to announce the decision and that too after 15,000 farmers had committed suicides in the state due to bad debt."
Tearing apart the government's claim of it being a historic decision, Munde sarcastically said that not a rupee has reached the indebted farmer and the government has splurged Rs 36 lakh on advertisement blitz on its decision.
"Even now after one-and-half months the government is still undecided on who is entitled to avail loan waiver. The government is taking credit for rise in agriculture produce due to good rainfall last year. Despite the bountiful harvest the demonetisation proved to be a bad omen for the farmers.
Exasperated farmers had to go on strike," he said.
Sena MLCs Anil Parab and Neelam Gorhe supported the government motion after it had in the recent past slammed the government and even threatened to walk out of the government.
Terming the loan waiver as a "good step", Parab justified the Sena's aggressive stand as a way to ensure that the farmers are not left to fend for themselves in their hour of crisis.
Both Parab and Gorhe demanded that the government extend the deadline till March 31, 2017 for availing loan waiver to all those farmers who have had debt burden.
Parab further demanded that the government increase the compensation to farmers who repay their loans regularly to Rs 1 lakh from Rs 25,000 as announced by the state.
Parab clarified that the Sena stood by the government's decision to ensure that the farmers get their due and their honour restored.
Gorhe on the other hand demanded that the June 30, 2016 cut off set by the government for indebted farmers to avail of loan waiver be extended till June 2017.
"The government should withdraw the cases filed against agitating farmers," she said.
She further pointed out that not all farmers can fill the Online registration form.
"The loan waiver decision will be a ray of hope for farmers which keeps their faith alive. The house should not indulge in politics over the issue and if the government is doing some good work there is no need to show narrow mindedness," Gorhe said.
(This article has not been edited by DNA's editorial team and is auto-generated from an agency feed.)
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