The Maharashtra Congress today claimed that less than ten lakh farmers will benefit by the loan waiver announced by state government. "Three-fourth of farmers (75 per cent) in the state will not benefit by the scheme," state Congress spokesperson Sachin Sawant told reporters here. He also claimed that the decision will not cost the state exchequer more than Rs 8,000 crore. Alleging that state government had fudged the figures or passed off old statistics as the latest one, Sawant said of the total farm loan dues of Rs 34,000 crore, Rs 10,000 crore loans of 10 lakh farmers have been restructured, and only those who have defaulted on repayment will benefit from loan waiver. Forty lakh farmers will not become debt-free (as claimed by the BJP-led state government), but the number will be far smaller, and this is only a Rs 7,000-8000 crore scheme against Rs 34,000 crore scheme as claimed by the government, Sawant said.

Source: dna June 29, 2017 18:00 UTC