Learning from the scam that was unearthed after the Kamal Nath-led Congress government took over, the Co-op Department has decided to introduce biometric verification to stop fraud in farmers’ loans. The department has decided to go Aadhaar way to restore its credibility and check corruption that had taken over the state in a big way. The department has now decided to make biometric verification mandatory while taking agriculture loans through the cooperative societies and banks, confirmed the department’s officials.
The loan scam forced the department to remain alert and take necessary steps to plug loopholes. From now onwards, the farmer, on whose name the loan is being taken, will be informed and asked to visit the bank in person. His biometric thumb impression will be matched with the one on his Aadhaar card, said the official. This step will definitely stop corruption in farm loans.
Large numbers of complaints were made after banks pasted names of defaulters at public places. This happened after Nath’s promise of waiving off loans was being followed. Several farmers had complained that their names had appeared in defaulters list though they had not taken any loan. There were also complaints about mismatch in amount of loan.
As many as 25 FIRs have been lodged in the state against 48 office-bearers of the coop societies and bank officials after the scam broke out in January last. Six of 48 have been terminated while 23 were placed under suspension in the past two months. Officials maintain that now a list of loan beneficiaries would be pasted at every panchayat to maintain transparency because the display of the list played important role in bursting of the scam.
