Finance Minister P Chidambaram’s proposed waiver of loans amounting to Rs 60,000 crore will benefit about four lakh farmers in south-west Maharashtra. A spate of suicides in this area by debt-ridden farmers in the past had shaken the entire country.

There is a mixed reaction to the Budget proposal in the sugar bowl of Sangli, Satara and Kolhapur. There are over four lakh farmers in these districts to whom loans of Rs 1,250 crore have been provided by district central co-operative banks.

Shetkari Kamgar Party leader N D Patil said: “In Maharashtra, out of 1.07 crore farmers who have taken loans; only 29.5 lakh farmers are eligible for a waiver as per the proposed Government norms. Among them, less than two-thirds have taken loan from co-operative societies, so waiving loan won’t make any substantial change”. Swabhimani Shetkari Sanghatna leader Raju Shetty said, “This is only the beginning. Waiving loans was inevitable”.

Kolhapur District Central Cooperative Bank MD Deepak Chavan said, “We are waiting for details to decide who will be the real beneficiary. An amount of Rs 650 crore has been provided to more than two lakh farmers as loan by this bank.”

The Sangli DCC Bank has provided loans of Rs 271 crore to one lakh farmers. Bank chairman Vilas Jagtap said, “It is for the first time in the country's history that such a major pro-farmer decision is being proposed. The Government should devise a mechanism to fix prices of foodgrains based on the amount spent by the farmer. This will benefit them more than waiving of loans.”