State Information Commissioner (SIC) Hafiz Usman, claimed to have ordered a high level enquiry into large scale irregularities made in distribution of compensation to farmers who suffered heavy loss to their crop due to un-seasonal rains.
RsRsAfter series of appeal have filed in my court mostly by farmers of Uttar Pradesh that they had not received any compensation announced by the government to give them some relief from loss which they incurred due to un-seasonal rains or even loan waiver scheme of the government, I finally ordered commissioner of cooperative to enquire the full matter and submit findings for necessary action against the officials who were held guilty”, disclosed Usman here on Thursday afternoon.
Usman claimed that now he will also brought this matter in the knowledge of chief minister Akhilesh Yadav, so that stern action could be ensure against the guilty who were coming in way of Government to forward relief to the farmers. He said that the matter is also very serious as farmers were backbone of the economy, particularly Uttar Pradesh which is the biggest food grain producer in the country.
Revealing of large scale irregularities made in the distribution of compensation following un-seasonal rains in the State earlier this year, Usman told RsThe Pioneer’ that a big number of appeal filed with him from farmers hailing from Bijnore, Saharanpur, Muzaffarnagar, Shamli, Moradabad etc, disclosed that several crore rupees which have been sent for distribution to farmers have been siphoned off by officials through forgery. According to Information Commissioner, majority of farmers used the Right to Information (RTI) Act to confirm whether any compensation has been shown released in their names as they not get a single paise and local authorities claimed to have distributed compensation to all the farmers who suffered loss. Usman said that much to the surprise of the farmers, the authority just provided names of beneficiaries and their father’s name but no other details like the name of their hamlet, thesil, their bank details in which money has been transfer or cheque number through which the compensation has been paid etc.
Usman said that he personally enquire the matter from local officers and were shocked that same exercise has been made by the local authorities to siphoned off the entire relief money. He said that they also provided just names of the beneficiaries to the government, making it almost impossible for anyone to confirm whether the benefit reached to the right person or even the one named in the list has also received it or not. Usman said that similarly, these officials also not forwarded the benefit of loan waivers to farmers to compensate them for their losses. He said that to unearth this forgery of the officials, he now ordered an enquiry and was waiting for the outcome to proceed with further legal as well as departmental proceedings against the officials held guilty in probe.