Samiti demands probe into farm loan waiver 'fraud'

A farmer advocacy group active in Maharashtra's Vidarbha region today demanded a thorough probe into the lapses pointed out by the CAG in the Rs 52,000-crore farm debt waiver scheme announced by the UPA government in 2008.
The Comptroller and Auditor General has found a number of shortcomings in implementation of the scheme, maintaining that thousands of beneficiaries were not eligible while those eligible were denied the benefits.
The CAG report, tabled in Parliament, disclosed violation of guidelines for implementation of the scheme.
"The CAG report is just a tip of the iceberg. Hence, there is an urgent need to have a Commission of Inquiry to look into the farm loan waiver fraud," Vidarbha Jan Andolan Samiti (VJAS) president Kishor Tiwari said in a release here.

"The report has exposed that a major portion of farm loan waiver amount was siphoned off by bank officials. This is a serious criminal offence and needs prosecution.
"Hence, we are pressing for a Commission of Inquiry," said Tiwari, whose outfit tracks farmer suicides in Vidarbha, a cotton belt in Eastern Maharashtra.