UP Govt Officials Allegedly Create A Fake List Of Farmers & Pocket Over Rs 2 Crore

In an embarrassing incident, a shaming loot has reportedly happened in Uttar Pradesh, where government officials allegedly found to misuse the government funds by creating fake farmers. According to a report by NDTV, the officers of Uttar Pradesh cooperative federation joined hands with two middlemen and brought lentils at a price lower than the Minimum Support Price (MSP).

How has the incident happened?

The Federation was supposed to purchase lentils from the farmers at the Minimum Support Price. But, rather than buying lentils from the farmers in the district, the officials approached some middlemen and reportedly bought about 12,000 quintals of urad dal at Rs 3,600 per quintal. The state government has fixed Rs 54,00 per quintal as the Minimum Support Price for the urad dal.

The officials allegedly entered the names of 527 fake farmers in their records and send the bill for approval. But, the farmers existed only in papers, as reported by NDTV. They have even included the list of bank account numbers, forged the signatures of the farmers and submitted the file for verification. According to the report, the officials have pocketed the money with a difference of Rs 1,800 per kg.

Some of the senior officials in the state government said that the accused took advantage of lack of awareness among farmers.

The enquiry

“When we carried out an inquiry, we found that none of these farmers existed. We have suspended the district manager of the local cooperative federation and will take necessary action against everybody involved in the fraud,” said Satyendra Singh, chief development officer of Bareilly to NDTV.