Misdeeds lead to huge loss; Govt to set things right

FARM LOAN WAIVER SCHEME

• Beneficiary list likely to be downsized
• Loss put at `850-1000 crore in the first two years
• Crop loans taken during
• YSR regime also waived off

Hyderabad: With large-scale irregularities threatening to derail the ‘crop loan waiver’ scheme to farmers in most of the districts, chances are that the Telangana government will revise the beneficiary list, if indications are anything to go by.

At present, close to 35.29 lakh farmers are getting benefits of the much-touted scheme, a popular pre-poll promise made by the Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS). However, this list could be downsized by removing ‘fake ones’ by the time the third installment of the waiver is released next year.

It may be mentioned here that TRS government has released a total of Rs 8,350 crore in two installments in 2014 and 2015. This amounts to nearly 50 percent of the total crop loan of Rs 17,000 crore, which has been scheduled to be released in four installments from 2014 to 2017.

Last week, Finance Minister Eatala Rajender said the irregularities in loan distribution caused a loss of Rs 850-1,000 crore to the public exchequer. While the government is exploring various options to pool up funds for implementation of its populist schemes, this leakage comes as a severe blow. This had come to light during the audit findings that were done randomly in nine districts.

This includes crop loan released to farmers for lands that were nonexistent but reportedly had fake pattas, loan released to lands that were later found to be that of a lake or a shikam land, loans released to fake farmers, loan amount released to farmers in excess of Rs 1 lakh ceiling fixed by the government and loan waived off for farmers holding multiple bank accounts, to name a few.

While the crop loan should not go beyond two to three years at the maximum, in some districts it was provided for loans that were taken before January 2007, when YS Rajashekar Reddy was at the helm of affairs in undivided Andhra Pradesh. In Medak district alone, close to Rs 2.67 crore was released to such accounts.

In Yellandu mandal of Khammam district, loans were given on water bodies and later waived off. In 12 mandals of this district, excess payments to the tune of Rs 2 crore were made in violation of the government guidelines. It may be mentioned here that bankers, Agriculture and Revenue departments were involved in the process of finalising the beneficiary list.

Stunned by the audit findings, the government is learnt to have decided to go for auditing of 25 percent of the beneficiary list of 35.29 lakh. Government sources pointed out that a major decision would be taken if findings from a larger sample size showed similar trend of irregularities. There will be no option but to revise the entire beneficiary list to remove the fraudulent names and retain the genuine ones.

By Mahesh Avadhuta