UPA loan waiver scheme did not help farmers: Radha Mohan Singh

The farm loan waiver scheme of the UPA government did not benefit common farmers and anomalies have come to light in the audit report, Union Agriculture Minister Radha Mohan Singh said today.

"The loan waiver scheme of the UPA government did not benefit the common farmers and it has been proved through the audit report that rules were changed to help people close to them (those who were part of the UPA)," Singh told news persons here last night.

Citing the audit report, he said anomalies have come to light in the decision of loan waiver as some additions were made in order to help "their own people".

Alleging that there had been a scam in the scheme, Singh said Rs 10,000 crore had been waived in Delhi whereas there are no farmers in the national capital and stressed that the Congress cannot be trusted.

A Comptroller and Auditor General report, tabled in Parliament in March 2013, had said that 8.5 per cent of farmers, out of 80,2999 accounts audited, were not eligible for debt waiver that they 5received under the scheme.

To a question on Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi questioning Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his works, the Union minister said there is no need to give any importance to what he says as his own party leader Sheila Dikshit has already said he is "not mature enough and not fit to be party president".

Attacking the Akhilesh Yadav government, Singh said that even Rs 4,338 crore of the national disaster fund was distributed on the lines of caste and religion.

Claiming that Mayawati, Mulayam Singh, Lalu Prasad Yadav and Mamata Banerjee have suffered heavy losses due to the note ban decision, the minister also attacked Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar for "saying one thing and doing the other" and asked as to why he was with Lalu Prasad if he was right.

Singh said the Enforcement Directorate is probing the deposit of Rs 104 crore into BSP account.