Govt shunts out top bureaucrat in fallout over loan waiver mess

Mumbai: Senior bureaucrat, Vijay Kumar Gautam, who was overseeing the IT aspect of the implementation of the state government’s Rs 34,022 crore farm loan waiver scheme, was on Tuesday transferred to the finance department. Earlier, Mr Gautam had been asked to go on leave following the mess in the implementation of the loan waiver scheme, which embarrassed the government. Chief  minister Devendra Fadnavis had earlier denied this, citing Mr Gautam’s personal reasons for the leave. But with his transfer being cleared within a week, there is a strong perception that it is no coincidence.

The chief minister cleared the list of transfers of senior bureaucrats on Tuesday evening with Mr Gautam’s name figuring high on the list. The officer was handling the IT information and technology department in the capacity of a principal secretary and looking after the online transfer of money to farmer’s names in loan waiver scheme. The state government had started waiving off loans from

October 18 but it had to stop for almost one and half week as various issues came to the fore. Issues like similar AADHAR number against many farmers was a tricky one and highly discussed in media and public.

There was demand for action against the guilty in this process. As a team leader, Mr Gautam was reportedly asked to go on leave. The CM, while talking to this paper, had denied that it was action taken by the state government. But the transfer list on Tuesday evening made it clear that the government had taken action and shifted the officer from the task. S.V.R. Srinivas, an officer on Dharavi redevelopment project and in charge of loan waiver, has given full-time charge of the IT department.