Mumbai, Jul 22 (PTI) The Maharashtra government on Wednesday released a symbolic list of 533 eligible beneficiaries from seven districts in the state under its loan waiver scheme, marking the birth anniversary of former deputy chief minister late Ajit Pawar.

The state cabinet had approved the farm loan waiver scheme -- 'Punyashlok Ahilyadevi Holkar Shetkari Karjmukti Yojana, 2026' -- at its meeting on June 2, 2026, and it was notified through a Government Resolution (GR) issued the same day. The government partially revised the eligibility criteria through another GR issued on July 15.

"The state government is releasing a representative list of 533 eligible beneficiaries from seven districts on Wednesday. Eligible beneficiaries will receive SMS alerts for Aadhaar authentication, following which the benefit amount will be transferred directly to their loan accounts through DBT," the state cooperation department said in a statement issued on Tuesday.

The loan waiver and one-time settlement (OTS) component of the scheme covers data uploaded by 53 banks, including 30 district central cooperative banks (DCCBs), 12 nationalised banks and other private banks, on a dedicated portal developed by MahaIT. MahaIT is the information and technology department of the state government that handles, develops IT systems for the various departments of the state.

The cooperation department said auditors verified all loan accounts uploaded by district central cooperative banks before processing the beneficiary list.

The government excluded several categories from the scheme, including former and sitting legislators, office-bearers of urban and rural local self-government bodies, serving and retired government and semi-government employees, income tax payers with non-agricultural income, and office-bearers and employees of district central cooperative banks, urban cooperative banks, cooperative sugar factories, spinning mills, milk unions and agricultural produce market committees.

After carrying out computerised verification of the uploaded information and exclusion data received from the concerned departments and institutions, the government prepared the final list of eligible beneficiaries through the scheme portal.

The government will send text messages to beneficiaries, asking them to complete Aadhaar authentication. It will also display the beneficiary lists at gram panchayat offices, multipurpose cooperative societies and the concerned bank branches.

Each eligible farmer will receive a unique identification number and must complete Aadhaar authentication using either the Aadhaar number or the unique ID. The government has made the facility available through around 32,000 Aaple Sarkar Seva Kendras operating across the state.

The department said beneficiaries must complete their registration on the Agristack platform before Aadhaar authentication. After successful authentication, the government will transfer the eligible amount directly to the beneficiaries' loan accounts through the Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) system.

The government aims to complete the entire process for eligible beneficiaries of all district central cooperative banks by July 31, after which it will begin transferring benefits to eligible farmers having loans with commercial banks. PTI ND NP