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Maharashtra farm loan waiver fraud: ₹92 lakh given to 141 fake beneficiaries
Even though half the beneficiaries are yet to get the farm loan waiver, a fraud in loan waiver transfer to 141 fake bank accounts has come to light in Sangli district
Even though half the beneficiaries are yet to get the farm loan waiver, a fraud in loan waiver transfer to 141 fake bank accounts has come to light in Sangli district of western Maharashtra. The district administration has registered complaints against these accounts and the process of recovering ₹92.43 lakh has begun.
After the state received complaints about the bogus beneficiaries of the farm loan waiver announced by the Maharashtra Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government, Sangli district collector ordered a probe. The cooperation department scrutinised more than 3,100 accounts with a landholding of less than 10 gunthas and found the disbursement of the amount to 141 ineligible farmers. Police have registered a first information report (FIR) against 12 such fraudulent beneficiaries and arrested two of them two days ago.
The cooperation department is conducting a probe into the role of the bank officials, as the department suspects their involvement for financial considerations. Officials suspect a major role of banking officers, who were part of the rackets operational at local level. Eyebrows are raised as many of these accounts are from nationalised and commercial banks.
“During our scrutiny, we realised that the farm loans were given to farmers who do not own any land, while in some cases, the waiver was given to farmers against their loans taken to purchase livestock and other farm-related requirements. The documents related to the 7x12 extract were forged in some cases. Agriculture officers at the banks, be it nationalised, commercial or cooperative, are expected to scrutinise the veracity of the documents before disbursing the loans,” said Nilkanth Kare, district deputy registrar.
While 60 of these beneficiaries had no landholding, 52 had taken loans for other purposes, seven farmers forged the 7x12 extract, seven had already sold their land against which the loans were taken, while in three cases, excess loan was disbursed than eligibility. The Corporation Bank in Karad in Sangli had disbursed loans to 30 farmers without valid documents.
The scam came to light after Maharashtra Navnirman Sena’s general secretary Kirtikumar Shinde complained about instances from Gotkhindi village. “The government has scrutinised the loan account of the farmers with the holding of less than 10 guntha. If all accounts are verified, they may come across frauds of greater amounts. We are now demanding similar scrutiny in all districts,” Shinde said.
Cooperation minister Balasaheb Patil said, “Taking a cue from the Sangli episode, we will put a mechanism in place in all districts to check such irregularities. We do not want the scheme and the government to be defamed due to such incidents.”
Soon after taking over, the Uddhav Thackeray-led MVA government announced the loan waiver to more than 30 lakh farmers.
After the beginning of disbursement in the last week of February, the state disbursed ₹12,000 crore in loan accounts of 19 lakh farmers. The scheme has been temporarily suspended due to pandemic, although 11.12 lakh more farmers are eligible for loan waiver worth ₹8,100 crore.
