Sparks fly at the steering committee of farmers leaders

A split down the middle seems to have emerged within the steering committee of farmers' leaders constituted to have dialogue with the Maharashtra government for removing the cap on loan waiver.

According to agriculture minister Pandurang Fundkar when most of the members across the board agreed to a financial cap of Rs 1 lakh, which was later even agreed to be raised to Rs 1.5 lakh, some members of the steering committee raised objections and demanded that farm loans up to Rs 15 lakh be waived.

The BJP minister alluded to the fact that some of the steering committee members were clearly favouring the interests of the rich farmers owning vineyards and orchards.

The minister said that matters came to such a pass that some members of the steering committee even burnt copies of the Government Resolution (GR) that had laid down the criteria to select the farmers who would get the loan waiver.

He added that Revenue Minister Chandrakant Patil who read clause by clause the government conditions, took consensus only after it was agreed upon and deleted those on which objections were raised.

The senior BJP minister disclosed that only 10 members of the committee were allowed in at the meeting venue at Sahyadri State Guest House at Malabar Hill.

They then communicated the deliberations to other members waiting outside, and those waiting outside disapproved and began using abusive language and burnt the copy of the GR, he said.

(This article has not been edited by DNA's editorial team and is auto-generated from an agency feed.)