Rich farmers likely to be excluded from loan waiver

: Rich farmers are likely to be excluded from the loan waiver announced by the BJP-led government in Maharashtra, according to a senior minister.

The government will be setting up up a high-level committee for the implementation of the scheme, announced on Sunday in the backdrop of the agitation by farmers across the state.

The farmers called off their stir after the Government came out with the loan waiver.

The panel will decide on the criteria of debt relief.

Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis had earlier said the conditions and details of the scheme would be finalised by the committee.

State Revenue Minister Chandrakant Patil on Monday said the committee is going to be formed because in the previous loan waiver package (2007-08), many rich farmers had benefited.

"We have found that the loan waiver scheme introduced previously had benefited the rich farmers largely in Maharashtra. To avoid it, we will set up a high-level committee to omit such rich farmers from the list of beneficiaries. The mechanism for the same will be worked out with the help of the committee," he said.