Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath. Farmers have claimed that banks were recovering the money written off under the state government’s crop loan waiver scheme (Express Photo/Vishal Srivastav/File)
Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav on Saturday presented before the media a farmer from Sardana in Meerut district who claimed that banks were recovering the amount written off under the Adityanath government’s crop loan waiver scheme from the accounts of some beneficiaries. Later in the day, Meerut lead district chief manager said that SBI, in its audit, had found that the farmers were not eligible for a loan waiver.
Gaurav Chaudhary, pradhan of Jamalpur, from where farmer Madan Lal hails, claimed that some farmers in his village had benefited from the crop loan waiver scheme announced by the state government. “But now the banks were recovering the waived amount from the accounts of some beneficiaries… Three days ago, when the farmers went to their bank, they learnt that the amount they were given had been recovered… Madan Lal is one such farmer,” he alleged.
“For instance, for a farmer who has a Kisan credit card… Rs 58,682 was waived. But when he went to the bank, he found that Rs 58,682 had been debited from his personal bank account… from the Rs 65,000 that he had received as sugarcane dues,” claimed Chaudhary, adding that in 12 villages, loan amounts have been recovered from 35 farmers.
“When we went to Lawat branch of SBI, the manager told us they are taking back the money the same way the CM had given it to them.”
When contacted, Meerut Lead District Chief Manager Avinash Tanti said: “The SBI in its internal audit found these farmers were not eligible for waiver, thus it recovered the amount.”
Asked why they are not eligible, he said: “Between April 1, 2016 and March 31, 2017, these farmers had in their Kisan Credit Card accounts the same amount of money the government was supposed to waive… or even more … Thus, they were not eligible for a loan waiver.”
Principal Secretary (Information) Awanish Awasthi said they have taken the cognizance of the matter. “Prima facie, it has been found that there was some fault from the bank’s side… which came out in an audit.”
Asked whether the amount would be returned to the farmers, he said the Meerut district magistrate has been asked to look into the matter.