BENGALURU: The coalition government’s ambitious farm loan waiver scheme seems to be fraught with confusion causing anxiety among farmers. Thanks to an alleged mix-up by banks, money was deposited in some farmers’ accounts and later withdrawn. The Chief Minister’s Office (CMO), which is monitoring the government’s flagship initiative, said the government is fully committed to implementing the scheme in a transparent manner and there is no need for any apprehension among farmers.
Immediately after the issue came to Chief Minister HD Kumaraswamy’s notice, he directed the banks to rectify the mistake, said an official. A meeting of state-level bankers has been convened in Bengaluru on Friday to discuss and resolve any issues related to the implementation of the loan waiver scheme.
Meanwhile, banks have also been told to explain reasons for such a mix-up in over 13,000 bank accounts in Yadgir district in Hyderabad-Karnataka region. What caused confusion among farmers was a mix-up between regular and restructured loan. Farmers covered under the scheme, but had cleared their loans, get an incentive of Rs 25,000 under regular loan. In the restructured loan, each family covered under the scheme gets maximum of Rs 2 lakh towards clearing their loan.
In some other cases, regular loans were classified as restructured loans and instead of Rs 25,000, up to Rs 2 lakh was deposited in their accounts. In some other cases, restructured loans were categorized as regular loans and only Rs 25,000 was deposited in their accounts, while they were actually eligible for up to Rs 2 lakh.
“This has come to light during auditing and action has been initiated to withdraw money from ineligible accounts,” the note from the CMO stated. According to an official, the state government had no role in the confusion caused by banks and it is being rectified so that all eligible farmers get the benefit of the scheme. According to the CMO, as of now, 18.70 lakh farmers have availed the benefit of the loan waiver scheme and the government has released Rs 8,759 crore.