When Venkayya, a farmer from Vizianagaram was informed that his name figured in the first phase of the 'loan waiver list', the official would have expected Venkayya to dance in joy.
Instead, he was greeted by a bemused expression! Why? Venkayya had not availed of a loan in the first place! Impossible, there are the documents to prove it!
All of them turned out to be fake and all this was traced to be the handiwork of a local politician. Thousands of such cases are being reported across the State ever since the loan waiver list has been released.
According to revenue department officials, in Vizianagaram district alone, Congress and TDP leaders took loans of Rs 17.98 crore in benami names and in some cases without the knowledge of the farmers.
Such misappropriations have been maximum in ‘district co-operative central banks’ (DCCB) and ‘Primary Agriculture Co-operative Societies’.
