New Delhi:
The government's auditor or CAG has found serious malpractices in a scheme that saw Rs 52,000 crore being spent by the government to write off loans for small farmers.
The CAG report, which was shared with Parliament today, said there were problems with one out of every five cases covered by the scheme, which was announced by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in 2008 and is credited with being one of the major reasons for his government's re-election a year later.
90,000 farmer accounts were audited by CAG, whose report said that "farmers who had taken loan for non-agricultural purposes or whose loans did not meet eligibility conditions, were given benefits under the scheme." Other farmers, who qualified for assistance, were overlooked.
The BJP alleged that this resulted in a scam worth Rs 10,000 crore and has demanded an investigation.
Rs 13 crore were over-paid to farmers who got benefits in excess of their entitlements, the report said. Another Rs 20 crore was given to farmers who were ineligible for the scheme.
The auditor also reprimanded the Department of Financial Services (DFS) in the Finance Ministry for inadequate monitoring of the multi-crore scheme.
Thousands of farmers were not given a certificate declaring that their debts had been waived, making it tough for them to get new loans they desperately needed.
In recent years, CAG assessments have turned into a nightmare for the government. The auditor said a telecom scam in 2008 cost the country Rs 1.76 lakh crore and another Rs 1.85 lakh crore were lost because there was a lack of transparency in how the government allocated coal fields to private companies.