Congress demands loan waiver for Maharashtra farmers

Mumbai March 14 (IANS) The Congress Maharashtra unit on Tuesday said it would join hands with the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) to demand a complete waiver of loans of debt-hit farmers in the state.

Leaders of both the parties will meet tomorrow (Wednesday) morning to chart out a strategy to intensify our stand on the issue and ensure that the state government writes off the farm loans Leader of Opposition in the state assembly Radhakrishna Vikhe-Patil said.

The opposition action comes after ruling Shiv Sena s President Uddhav Thackeray on Monday directed all party legislators to disrupt the ongoing Budget Session of the state legislature till farm loans are written off.

Vikhe-Patil said that till date all claims by the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party-Shiv Sena government at arresting farmers suicides and related issues have proved fake.

Since the past two-and-half years the farmers suicides have not reduced and it will not stop till the government immediately announces a complete write-off of farm debts Vikhe-Patil said.

During these two-and-half years Maharashtra has recorded around 9 000 farmland suicides and it was imperative to announce a loan-waiver without further delay if these deaths are to be stopped he urged.

The Congress leader said Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis has been assuring since a year that loan-waiver would be announced at the appropriate time but that has not come and suicides continue unabated.

--IANS
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