Mumbai: Farmers foxed by the fine print of Maharashtra’s loan waiver have flooded a government helpline with calls and chosen to file paper applications instead of going online, state government officials said.
On 24 July, Maharashtra launched an online process to identify farmers eligible for the loan waiver. Alongside, the state’s information technology (IT) department opened a telephone helpline for farmers. A day later, chief minister Devendra Fadnavis said offline applications will also be accepted at nearly 26,000 facilitation centres after verifying the applicant’s identity through biometrics.
On the first day itself, the helpline received over 6,200 questions, most of which pertain to eligibility conditions and riders of the waiver, an official in the state’s IT department said, requesting anonymity.
“We have deployed a workforce of technicians to respond to the helpline queries but they are confronted with questions beyond the purview of their expertise and work profile. They are not able to figure out the various conditions and riders that the scheme has. They can only help out the farmers in filing the online applications,” said the official. Read more
On 24 July, Maharashtra launched an online process to identify farmers eligible for the loan waiver. Alongside, the state’s information technology (IT) department opened a telephone helpline for farmers. A day later, chief minister Devendra Fadnavis said offline applications will also be accepted at nearly 26,000 facilitation centres after verifying the applicant’s identity through biometrics.
On the first day itself, the helpline received over 6,200 questions, most of which pertain to eligibility conditions and riders of the waiver, an official in the state’s IT department said, requesting anonymity.
“We have deployed a workforce of technicians to respond to the helpline queries but they are confronted with questions beyond the purview of their expertise and work profile. They are not able to figure out the various conditions and riders that the scheme has. They can only help out the farmers in filing the online applications,” said the official. Read more