Jajpur: Cooperative banks have been caught on the wrong foot after farmers of this district alleged large-scale irregularities in sanctioning crop loans in the name of fake farmers. The matter came to the fore after farmers alleging irregularities demanded a high-level inquiry to unravel the wrongdoings.
Reports said that farmers here have borrowed from the cooperative societies as well as central cooperative banks to raise their Rabi crops but the loan amounts, instead of being handed over to them, are being used to repay previous loans. The loans sanctioned for Rabi crops are adjusted against the previous Kharif loans. This is being done in violation of the directives issued by the Registrar of Cooperative Societies in June, this year.
Notably, the Registrar of Cooperative Societies (RCS) issued a direction to all the Deputy Registrars of Cooperative Societies (DRCS), Assistant Registrars of Cooperative Societies (ARCS), and the heads of all central cooperative banks in June, this year. In the letter, he had said that the secretaries or managing directors of Primary Agriculture Cooperative Societies (PACS) or Large Area Multipurpose Societies (LAMPS) shall not keep the loan passbooks or the Kishan Credit Card (KCC) chequebooks of farmers with them or use them for any means under any circumstances. It is alleged that the loan books of farmers who had taken loans for 2022-23 Kharif season are only being renewed.
As many as 1,01,739 farmers had taken Rs 54,115.59 lakh as…
