On the State end, an attempt to speed up the implementation ironically compounded the delay. Officers of the state co-operatives department worked for three weeks continuously, clocking in over-time and sacrificing weekly offs.
Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis's Rs 34,022 crore farm loan waiver is facing one hurdle after another. Delivery of loan waiver to 53.18 lakh farmers is expected to get delayed once more, this time by at least three weeks, as the state government struggles to get data from 52 banks, including commercial and district central co-operative banks. As if this was not enough, state employees of the Cooperatives department, working on the loan waiver scheme, have threatened to go on strike from December 9 if their demands were not met.
The department of Information Technology, which has come under flak from the Opposition flak for ongoing delays, has provided verification tools to all banks to expeditiously submit data. The government has so far released a beneficiary list of 2.39 lakh farmers, out of 8.4 lakh farmers to be covered in the first phase. But the departments of Co-operation and Information Technology are unable to give information about actual disbursement of money and number of beneficiaries.
"Since the announcement of the scheme, 56.59 lakh applications were properly filled up covering 77 lakh farmers," a senior officer, who is currently engaged in the loan waiver exercise, told DNA,
"During scrutiny, it was found that 24.1 lakh applicants were yet to provide their Aadhaar number and related details, while one lakh applications were rejected as they did not meet the eligible criteria. As of date, there are 53.18 verified applicants. The rate of submission of data from banks was initially quite low,
However, it gathered momentum after the Chief Minister held a state-level bankers' committee meeting on October 25 and asked banks to depute their technical staff to the IT Department for co-ordination.''
According to the officer, implementation was facing two major issues — the list is generated in English, while most farmers can read only Marathi. Secondly, some farmers have complained that they have received the certificate from the state government, saying they have been selected in loan waiver scheme but the loan amount has not been deposited into their accounts.
On the State end, an attempt to speed up the implementation ironically compounded the delay. Officers of the state co-operatives department worked for three weeks continuously, clocking in over-time and sacrificing weekly offs.
So much so that it affected their physical and mental health, and one association claimed that overwork even led to death of one officer while another was admitted to the ICU.
These officers have now also decided that will no longer sacrifice weekly offs or holidays, and will go on strike if their demands are not met. "Most instructions are received on WhatsApp or over a phone call," the association's press release said. "We have decided to seek direction in the official format. We have also demanded that the state provide us all necessary apparatus — computers, printers, inverters and other office furniture at regional offices so that the staff can work in a better manner."
It cannot be estimated how much this development will further delay the implementation of the loan waiver.
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