No loan waiver for farmers as yet, Maharashtra MLAs go on '14-day study tour' of Australia, New Zealand, Singapore

Mumbai: A team of MLAs and presiding officers of Maharashtra have set off on a junket abroad, which has been dubbed as a '14-day study tour' of Australia, Singapore and New Zealand by the state government.

Maharashtra Agriculture Minister Pandurang Fundkar, Food and Civil supplies Minister Girish Bapat and his wife, Assembly Speaker Haribhau Bagde and few other MLAs and officers, who are part of the study tour are scheduled to visit local parliaments, study the type of farm loans of three countries.

The trip comes even as questions are being raised on how the state can afford such a trip when the state farmers are suffering a lot.

Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis recently said the state government will study the Uttar Pradesh model of farm loan waiver worth Rs 36,000 crore, after Shiv Sena and BJP members demanded that the state government announce a loan waiver for distressed farmers.

Meanwhile, Congress has slammed the Fadnavis government for sending MLAs and officers on a foreign junket.

Congress leader and former state chief minister Prithviraj Chavan said instead of attending to the farmers' problems, Agriculture Minister has gone abroad, as a part of the legislative delegation.