Only 25 per cent farm loans cleared by Maha govt

Mumbai: The state has so far cleared only 25 per cent (around 18.1 lakh) of the 77.28 lakh farmers who had applied for the farm loan waiver scheme, indicating a delay in implementation. However, the state information and technology department is claiming that the delay is because of the banks.

It is alleged that banks are delaying crediting the money in farmers’ loan accounts. So much so, ex-CM and senior Congress leader Prithiviraj Chavan has now demanded of the RBI governor that an enquiry be conducted into loan accounts of banks as chief minister Devendra Fadnavis has said many times that banks have given wrong figures of loan accounts. The government has cleared farm loans of 18.1 lakh out of the 77.28 lakh farmers who applied for the waiver and incentive. It is said that while the government has released Rs 7,000 crore, banks have credited the money into just 10 lakh accounts in the past one week.

Despite the CM having given clear instructions to deposit money in farmers’ loan accounts immediately, the process has been delayed. When the state cleared a list of 15.5 lakh farmers last week, it was said that the government would release a list of 50,000 to 70,000 farmers daily. But the IT department has been facing problems with bank data, which is delaying the entire process. The government has now given a deadline of December 4 for banks to rectify their data. The IT department will then process the data and clear further lists. The IT and cooperative departments are working on a war footing to clear further lists before the assembly session to avoid embarrassment and ward off possible attacks by the opposition.

Meanwhile, ex-CM Mr Chavan has sent a letter to the RBI governor, asking for an enquiry to be conducted into claims made by Mr Fadnavis about loan accounts of banks. Mr Fadnavis had said that Union Bank earlier stated that there were 6.48 lakh loan accounts only to later withdraw the figure and quote it as 1.34 lakh loan accounts instead. The difference i.e. 5 lakh accounts, is huge and many banks are similarly correcting loan account figures that they gave initially. Hence, Mr Chavan has demanded an enquiry and written to the chairman of Union Bank to give an explanation in this regard.