Maharashtra government releases second list of beneficiaries for loan waiver scheme

The Maharashtra government on Saturday released the second list of beneficiaries eligible for the loan waiver scheme "Mahatma Jyotirao Phule Farmer Debt-Free Scheme". The total list of 21.82 lakh (including the first list) account holders will avail the farm loan waiver scheme, taking the total number of beneficiaries declared till now to 21.97 lakh. Out of the total list, 1.25449 lakh account holders are verified till date. The first list of 15,358 beneficiaries of the state farm loan waiver scheme was released on February 24.

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According to an official statement, Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray has instructed all officers that farmers should not face any hurdle while availing the benefit of this scheme.

"All verified account holders will start getting the benefits in their account from Monday onwards," read a press note from CMO.

The first beneficiaries list of the debt-free scheme by Maharashtra government was based on a pilot basis which was published on February 24.  The first list included a total of 15,358 loan beneficiary accounts from 68 villages across Maharashtra. The list of beneficiary accounts holders has now increased to 21.82 lakh after the second list was published on Saturday.

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The Maharashtra government has provided Rs 14,000 crore to make these 21.82 lakhs accounts holders debt-free. Complete lists have been released in 15 districts, while in 13 districts, it has been declared partially. The list of beneficiaries has not been declared in six districts yet as model code of conduct is in force there for the gram panchayat polls. The list for these six districts will be released once the Model code of conduct is lifted.

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All banks are directed to give the benefit of the government's farmer debt-free scheme within 24 to 72 hours of verification of loan account holders.

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(With inputs from ANI)