MUMBAI: Devendra Fadnavis led Maharashtra government tabled supplementary demands for crop loan waiver scheme on the first day of the winter session of the state legislature at Nagpur on Monday even as the opposition tried to disrupt the proceedings of the house while accusing the government of failure in implementation of the loan waiver.
As the Assembly session began, Opposition leader Radhakrishna Vikhe Patil accused the government of having a lackluster attitude towards the issues of farmers and said that the government has failed in the implementation of loan waiver scheme. He also pressed for the demand of complete loan waiver citing implementation hassles in the current scheme.
NCP leader Ajit Pawar said, “Instead of asking what the Congress-NCP government did in 15 years, the Fadnavis government should give an account of its 3-year rule.”
CM Fadnavis then lodged a scathing attack on the opposition terming their concerns for the farmers were mere “crocodile tears”.
“The concern being shown by the opposition is false. In fact, the Congress and NCP government had largely disappointed farmers in the state during their tenure,” Fadnavis said and read out the details on several accounts how the performance of his government in past three years was better than the 15-year Congress-NCP rule in the state.
“The loan waiver amount now for the Buldana district alone is more than the entire loan waiver package announced by the then Congress-NCP government for the entire Vidarbha region. It was the UPA government duped and betrayed the farmers,” Fadnavis said and added that the farmers’ suicides were due to sins of Congress-NCP government.
The government then tabled supplementary demands of over Rs 26,000 crore of which Rs 15,000 crore are meant for the crop loan waiver scheme. A provision of Rs 20,000 crore was made for loan waiver during the budget session. Including the demands tabled today, a provision of Rs 35,000 crore has been made for farm loan waiver.
Though the ruling side was able to push through the business in the lower house of the state legislature amidst the din, the opposition successfully stalls proceedings of the legislative council.