Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar has ruled out any misappropriation in the Rs 52,000-crore farm loan waiver, but sought a comprehensive audit of the scheme.
“There is no question of any misappropriation, as the scheme has been implemented by banks under the supervision of RBI and Nabard. Banks have directly deposited the money into the accounts of the beneficiaries,” Pawar told reporters on the sidelines of a seminar on Kharif 2013.
The Agriculture Minister, however, felt that the sample size taken by the Comptroller and Auditor General to audit the scheme was very small and its scope should be expanded.
CAG has audited the record of only 90,576 farmers, while the total number of beneficiaries stood at 3.7 crore under the Agricultural Debt Waiver and Debt Relief Scheme of 2008, he said.
CAG report
The CAG report has brought out two issues. Some farmers, who were ineligible, were found to have been benefitted by the scheme. But on the other hand, several farmers who were eligible have been excluded from the scheme, Pawar said stating the need for more detailed audit of the scheme.
“I hope the banks will recover the money from those beneficiaries who were ineligible,” Pawar said.
The CAG, in its report tabled in Parliament on Tuesday, had pulled up the Department of Financial Services for deficient monitoring of the Rs 52,000-crore farm debt waiver scheme, announced in the 2008 Budget.