Nagpur: The state unit of BJP on Saturday termed the Rs 3,750-crore package announced by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh for drought-hit Vidarbha region as "disappointing" and said that debt-ridden farmers in the region would not be benefited from it.
"However, the district co-operative banks controlled by the NCP will be benefited and NCP president and Union Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar has intelligently ensured this," State BJP President Nitin Gadkari alleged at a press conference.
More than 1,600 farmers had committed suicide recently but financial assistence to the tune of Rs 1 lakh has been extended to only a few and Prime Minister should have announced the same amount to each bereaved family, Gadkari said.
Gadkari said farmers were expecting the Prime Minister to announce rate of interest at six per cent on crop loan but "this was not included in the package and hence farmers' mounting debts would not be reduced".
States like Bihar and Uttar Pradesh are providing crop loans at an interest rate of 8.5 per cent while crop loan from Nabard which is provided at five per cent interest rate is passed on to farmers at 13 to 14 per cent in Maharashtra, the senior BJP leader alleged.
"The co-operative banks are benefited in the process," Gadkari said.
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