Maharashtra CM Blames Banks for Errors in Loan Waiver Names, Accounts

Nagpur: Maharashtra chief minister Devendra Fadnavis blamed the banks for making mistakes in names and account numbers in the loan waiver scheme on Wednesday.

Speaking in the Assembly, Fadnavis said, "The banks made mistakes in the account numbers and names of account holders. It leads to confusion as names of a Shiv Sena MLA and a former NCP MP were listed as beneficiaries."

In both the cases, the persons had not applied for loan waiver, he said.

"Our parallel system of getting farmers to register themselves on "Aapale Sarkar" portal helped us to expose such errors," Fadnavis added.

He was speaking on the floor of the House after opposition leaders raised objections over mistakes in the loan waiver scheme.

The CM said that some banks were aware of the discrepancies in account numbers and actual names but had failed to inform the government.

Fadnavis said, "Shiv Sena MLA Prakash Abitkar did not apply for the loan waiver scheme but his name appeared instead of actual beneficiary Prakash Sutar. The list issued by the state government showed Abitkar's name and his back account number."

Fadnavis also explained how the name of a former MP from Jalgaon appeared on the list of beneficiaries.

"Latabai Suresh Patil was actually the beneficiary of loan waiver scheme of Maharashtra government. But because of the banks mistake, name of Vasantrao More, former Member of Parliament appeared in the list," he said.

"These mistakes were revealed because the Maharashtra government had a parallel list of beneficiary farmers and their bank account details," said Fadnavis.

He added that banks have been asked to transfer the amount into the beneficiary bank accounts and to validate the account post the transfer.

"This provision is done to fix the responsibility of the banks," said Fadnavis.

He said that the primary verification of 47,87,995 bank accounts has been completed.

"Out of these, 34 lakh accounts are for waiver and one time settlement scheme while another 14 lakh accounts are eligible for incentive scheme where a regular payee gets a rebate of up to Rs 25,000," said the CM.

"The cumulative figure of loan waiver is Rs 23,300 crore so far. We have transferred money into 26.50 lakh bank accounts as on December 20. The state machinery has picked up momentum and we are speedily clearing the fresh accounts," he said.

Fadnavis announced that the repayment deadline under the one-time settlement scheme has been extended till March 31 from December end.