Former Maharashtra chief minister Prithviraj Chavan has claimed that the state's current farm loan waiver scheme was a scam involving bank fraud.
In a letter written to RBI Governor Urjit Patel, Chavan, a Congress leader, demanded action against nationalised banks and cooperative banks that allegedly submitted 14 lakh 'ghost' accounts.
Chavan wrote to the RBI governor as he didn't receive any response to a letter he wrote to the CMD of the Union Bank of India.
"The implementation of the scheme has hit serious roadblocks as the banks, both public sector and cooperative, were found to have inflated the number of farm loan accounts by about 14 lakh," Chavan wrote in his letter to the RBI governor.
Citing reports published in a major national daily and a news website, Chavan said that a full-scale inquiry would reveal the exact nature of the problem and restore confidence in the system.
He drew the attention of the RBI governor to a statement by Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis (as reported by the national daily) that the Union Bank of India had first given an estimate of 6.48 lakh defaulting farmers to the government. However, upon verification, by the state government, which required online application by farmers, the actual number turned out to be 1.38 lakh, Chavan wrote in his letter, citing the CM's statement as reported by the national daily.
"It is indeed quite possible that there may be a problem with the state government's online process and not with the data given by banks. However, you will appreciate that the Maharashtra CM has cast serious aspersions on the functioning of public sector banks as also cooperative banks, which raises serious doubts about their integrity. Given the magnitude of the problem of possible ghost accounts, a detailed statement on behalf of the banks would be desirable," said Chavan in his letter to the RBI governor.
