Thackeray accused BJP government of neglecting farmers, urging Rs 50,000 per hectare aid like Punjab’s model
Mumbai
Shiv Sena (UBT) chief Uddhav Thackeray on Saturday demanded that the Maharashtra government announce a complete loan waiver and grant Rs 50,000 per hectare to farmers affected by floods and heavy rains in Marathwada and other parts of the state.
Speaking at a press conference, Thackeray urged Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis to act immediately. “Farmers must be made debt-free. Assistance of Rs 50,000 per hectare should be given quickly. Banks should stop sending notices for loan recovery,” he said.
He criticised the government’s delayed response, saying the current aid of Rs 7,000-8,000 per hectare was too little to restore land damaged by floods. “How will indebted farmers repay loans? The government must announce a complete waiver,” he demanded.
Thackeray accused the BJP-led MahaYuti government of neglect, pointing out that farmers have not received Rs 14,000 crore of earlier promised aid. He recalled that even the 2017 loan waiver under Fadnavis was not fully implemented. Citing Punjab’s model, he said Maharashtra should give Rs 50,000 per hectare, as farmers’ losses will last two to three years.
He also recalled that during his tenure, the Maha Vikas Aghadi government had announced and implemented a loan waiver in 2019. “We never sat idle in a crisis,” he said.
Thackeray spoke emotionally about suicides, sharing the case of a 31-year-old farmer who died leaving behind debt and a newborn child. Criticising CM Fadnavis for dismissing a farmer’s query as “politics,” he said, “Instead of harassing farmers, the government must rescue them.”
He warned that anger is rising as crops rot, debts mount, and survival becomes uncertain.