Informing that out of a total 1.38 crore farmers registered in Maharashtra, about one crore farmers were repaying their loan instalments regularly, the state government said it would come out with a scheme to help out the remaining 3.1 million farmers who had bad debts due to the agrarian crisis.

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Making a statement in both the Houses of the state assembly, Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis on Saturday said that the growth rate in the agricultural sector had increased because of the increased investment in agricultural infrastructure in state after he assumed power. 

Fadnavis said that a high-level delegation of the state government led by him had met Union Ministers of Finance and Agriculture and sought a loan waiver for Maharashtra farmers. He informed the assembly that the Union Government had responded positively and had told the state about a scheme which would provide relief to ailing farmers.

Fadnavis said that the scheme would be run by the Union Government and the state would also have a share in the financial outlay for helping out the farmers.

Fadnavis said that there were 3.1 million farmers who had bad debts and were not eligible for fresh loans. He said that there was a requirement of Rs 30,500 crore and this problem could not be sorted out just by giving loan waivers. He said that those who were repaying loan installments regularly should not think that they should stop repaying loans to avail the loan waiver. He said that to address this issue, a scheme would be prepared so that distressed farmers would be helped and those who were repaying loans would also be provided incentives.

Earlier on Saturday, expressing disappointment over the announcement made by Maharashtra Finance Minister Sudhir Mungantiwar in the state budget for 2017-18, the opposition MLAs burnt copies of the same outside the assembly. Despite demands from the Shiv Sena and other opposition parties, Mungantiwar did not make any announcement on the loan waiver for farmers. The government, however, allocated Rs. 8, 233 crore for various irrigation projects for the farmers.

With agency inputs.