Mumbai: Leader of Opposition and former Maharashtra chief minister Devendra Fadnavis on Monday described the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government's farm loan waiver scheme as a "sham", saying it has failed to give respite to cultivators.
Speaking in the assembly, the BJP leader said the Shiv Sena-led MVA government had announced that farmers will be madedebt-free, but what is being offered to them in the name of loan waiver had no meaning.
Fadnavis also demanded strict action against protesters and their supporters for raising "anti-national" slogans at anti-CAA protests in Mumbai.
When in opposition, leaders from all three ruling parties (Sena, Congress, NCP) had demanded relief of up to Rs 25,000 per hectare for farmers hit by unseasonal rainfall in October-November last year.
"The MVA government has not been able to even distribute the relief of Rs 8,000-Rs 18,000 per hectare announced during the President's rule (in Maharashtra in
November) for crop losses suffered by farmers.
"The government has rolled out a loan waiver which is unlikely to provide any major relief to farmers," said the former BJP chief minister, who had announced a mega loan waiver in June 2017 during his tenure.
The government's farm loan waiver scheme is nothing but a "sham", the BJP legislator said.
The scheme to write off outstanding crop loan of up to Rs 2 lakh, as on September 30, 2019, was announced by the three-party coalition government in December last year.
Fadnavis was speaking on the opposition motion for debate on various issues, including relief to farmers and rise in atrocities against women.
The Leader of Opposition demanded that the cut-off date for availing benefits under the loan waiver scheme be extended to July 31, 2020.
The existing cut-off date is September 30, 3019, but many farmers faced loss of crops due to unseasonal rains in October and November last year.
"To offer them respite from the losses, the loan waiver cut-off date should be extended, he said. Fadnavis said he has a photograph of Home Minister Anil Deshmukh sharing the dais with a 'criminal' who was once arrested under the Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA).
Deshmukh needs to be careful while attending public functions, he said. I do not want to politicise it as I believe that some times even politicians are unaware about the antecedents of people with whom they share the stage. He needs to be more careful in public life, Fadnavis said.
He criticised the government for the rise in cases of atrocities against women and cited recent instances of rape, molestation and attack on them in the state.
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