According to minister of cooperation Harshvardhan Patil, the total amount the govt would offer is Rs 231 crore. The minister said district coop banks would get Rs. 136 crore while agriculture credit societies would get Rs. 96 crore.
Nearly 3 million farmers get loans worth Rs 40 crore from the latter, the minister added. A large number of DCBs have not been doing well financially and this has been worrisome for the authorities. Experts are not willing to give DCBs and agriculture credit societies a clean bill of health.
There are 21,382 primary agriculture credit societies and 31 district cooperative banks in Maharashtra. Sources say the pre-poll generous gesture shown by the govt towards cooperative credit organizations is aimed at shoring up the ruling parties’ plummeting popularity among the people.