As the assembly elections draw near, the Maharashtra government has proposed waiving Rs 171 crore in outstanding loans for farmers’ cooperative societies, with a particular focus on the sugarcane-growing region of western Maharashtra, reports HT.
These loans date back to the 1970s and 1980s when cooperative sugar mills were booming, and societies established lift irrigation projects with financial assistance.
However, 240 of the 2,659 societies have been unable to repay their loans. The cooperation department, headed by Dilip Walse Patil, has put forward a plan to write off these loans, with banks agreeing to waive the interest and penalties.