Picture used for representative purposes only. (Reuters)

BHOPAL: Farmers of a Madhya Pradesh village have threatened to commit “mass suicide” after their names appeared on the state government’s loan waiver list even though they do not have any dues or have loans far smaller than the ones that are listed.

The distressed farmers of Hilgan village assembled at the panchayat office to protest against the faulty list on Saturday. “We will commit mass suicide if this issue is not resolved at the earliest,” they said. Ramkumar Singh Lodhi , one of the farmers, chanced upon a list at the panchayat office, which displayed his name among those who are under debt. The list not only mentioned a substantial loan against him, but also named his father, who died a few years ago.

The state government has already ordered a probe into complaints of fake loans, which erupted once the lists for the waiver scheme started to be collated. The first arrests in an attempted loan fraud in the waiver scheme were made on Friday in Susner, Agar-Malwa. Chief minister Kamal Nath has said the fraud has been going on for years and could exceed Rs 2,000 crore.

“Debt, you know, is the most dreadful sin in this part of the world. The list of farmers displayed under Jai Kisan Rin Maafi Yojana mentioned Rs 9,547 against my father’s name, while an amount of Rs 70,481 was mentioned against my name,” Lodhi told TOI. He admitted to taking a loan for sowing gram crop earlier this year, but said it was only Rs 17,000. “My father had never taken any loan,” he said.

Another farmer, Brajendra Singh, said, “Almost 100 farmers of the village are affected and those who have never taken a loan have been made defaulters out of the blue.”

State cooperative minister Govind Singh said, “We have already started investigations and will ensure that farmers who have not taken loans are not bothered.”

