Shivlal Kataria a Farmer from Madhya Pradesh was shocked when he saw Rs. 13 credited to his name that was supposed to be Rs. 24,000, he was going to get the money from a loan that is for the benefits of farmers in the local area.

Shivlal Kataria said: “The state government had promised to waive loans up to Rs. 2 lakh. Forms were filled and I was expecting a complete waiver of my loan amount of Rs. 23,815. But the list that has come to the panchayat says only Rs. 13 have been waived.”

Shivlal Kataria is a resident of a village called Nipania Baijnath in the Agar Malwa District, this is located 120km north from indore, he was excited when he heard that his loan has been passed by the government.

He added: “I am an honest farmer. I have been regularly paying my dues. On questioning, the staff said that I did not have loan on me on the date of loan waiver. There are major irregularities in the loan waiver scheme. I have reported the matter to the authorities.”

The government issued a statement that said, flaws are common when there are a lot of loans being distributed.

Omkar Singh Markam the Cabinet Minister said: “Irregularities which happened at the stage of loan disbursal are now surfacing. We are taking required action.”

Congress leader Kamal Nath kept his promise and started to distribute the loans process applications on January 15.

The last date for the loan waiver applicants are in between February 5 and February 22. This scheme by the government is said to benefit around 55 lakh farmers.