Those farmers who had brought farm land after July 4, 1980 had to pay a stamp duty as per the market value after an amendment was made in the Bombay Stamp Act 1958.

The same came to effect on December 1985 and the farmers had to pay the pending dues. Kadam's announcement will see these farmers benefit as they had been repeatedly sent notices for the pending amount. Around Rs 2.94 crore worth of stamp duty will be waived off for Pune district alone. While, in the state -- with around Rs 60 crore worth stamp duty being waived off -- around 1.25 lakh farmers will stand to benefit. "The GR will soon be brought out for implementation and all appropriate authorities will implement the same and send letters intimating the farmers of the stamp duty waiver,'' said CD Bhurkunde, joint district registrar and collector of stamps, Pune city.

The farmers, who had brought farm land, had to pay stamp duty as per the revised section 32 (a) of the act. With the ready reckoner being brought out as a public document only after 1996, there were many farmers who had not payed the complete amount as per the revised rules. The IGR was following it up by serving notices to these farmers. "Small amounts worth Rs 100-500 were waived off earlier and now the others, who were to pay, will not have to pay,''said Bhurkunde. He added that letters will be send to intimate them of the waiver.

Even as the state announced a further loan waiver for farmers who did not benefit from the central government's loan waiver scheme, last week's stamp duty waiver has brought in more cheers. Tukaram Shende, a farmer from Talegaon, said that he had a pending amount of nearly Rs 8,000 to pay for the farm land brought in 1988. "There were a lot of verifications and assessment done. I was served three notices as well, but I could not gather enough money to pay. This stamp duty waiver is a good move by the government,''he said.