Maharashtra govt to dip into contingency fund for farm loan waiver

The Maharashtra government has decided to withdraw Rs 10,000 crore from its contingency fund for implementation of the Mahatma Jyotiba Phule farmer loan waiver scheme announced last year. The state cabinet, at its meeting on Wednesday, approved a proposal to take out Rs 10,000 crore from the fund for implementation of the loan waiver scheme for farmers.

An ordinance to facilitate the withdrawal will be promulgated soon, a statement from the Chief Minister's Office (CMO) said. The present limit of the contingency fund is Rs 150 crore, which will now be increased by Rs 10,000 crore, taking the total size of the fund to Rs 10,150 crore, it said. The Shiv Sena-NCP-Congress government, which took charge in November last year, has decided to implement the loan waiver scheme from February 22. The scheme needs Rs 10,000 crore for implementation till March 5.

The budget session of the state legislature will begin in Mumbai from February 24 and the budget will be presented on March 6. The government has announced a loan waiver of up to Rs 2 lakh for farmers. In another decision, the cabinet gave a go ahead to a proposal to make available free spectacles for vision correction in students aged six to 18 years studying in government and state-aided schools.

Under the National Child Health Mission, schoolchildren have to undergo health check-up every year. There are 1.21 crore children in government and aided schools and 8 per cent of them suffer from vision impairment. A sum of Rs 20 crore will be set aside for providing free spectacles to such student, the statement added.