CM Devendra Fadnavis has told officials to check if the farmers in Mumbai were genuine. (File)
Mumbai city and its suburbs are home to some 813 farmers on the loan-waiver list, a figure which has "surprised" Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis. He had ordered a scrutiny before sanctioning the loan-waiver. These farmers figure in a list of probable beneficiaries for benefits under the
Rs 34,000-crore loan-waiver announced by the Maharashtra government last month.
Mumbai city and its suburbs are urban areas, leaving little scope for farming activity in the country's commercial nerve centre. A district-wise list of beneficiaries released by the chief minister on Twitter last evening includes names of 694 cultivators from Mumbai city and 119 from its suburbs.
A majority of the beneficiaries are from suicide-prone districts such as Yavatmal, Buldhana and Amravati, all in Vidarbha region. As per the scheme, loans up to Rs 1.5 lakh of eligible farmers will be waived on outstanding till June 30, 2016.
"Even I was surprised to find these two cities in the list. The beneficiary farmers from these two districts would be scrutinised thoroughly before sanctioning waiver of their loans," Mr Fadnavis told reporters.
He said he has asked officers to find out whether the farmers from the two urban regions were genuine. The loan waiver was announced by the BJP-led government after
protests by farmers in the first fortnight of June.