BAREILLY: Days after waiving off tiny farm loans– some as little as 9 paise, 84 paise and Rs 2 –– in UP, the Yogi Adityanath government is now understood to have directed all district magistrates in the state to publicise details of those who got amnesty for big pending amounts.

As first reported by TOI, thousands of farmers were shocked on September 11 when during the first phase of the loan waiver programme they got certificates that excused them from repaying debts as small as 9 paise. According to government figures, of the 22,000 farmers in Bijnor alone who benefited from the waiver, 880, or more than 4%, had amounts lower than Rs 500 pardoned. After facing all-round flak, the government will now disclose the names of farmers who got the full waiver of Rs 1 lakh.

UP agriculture production commissioner Raj Pratap Singh has written to district magistrates and divisional commissioners asking them to immediately comply with the fresh instruction. Singh wrote, “...a list of farmers who have received the maximum benefit of Rs 1 lakh under the scheme must be released to media immediately.”

While officials said the waiver of even small amounts was routine, puzzled farmers alleged it was an attempt to inflate beneficiary numbers.

Jagdeesh Lal of Panchdevara Kalan in Bareilly district has been seething ever since he received a certificate saying his loan amount of Rs 0.03 has been waived. “I will frame this certificate and hang it in my house so visitors can see what great support we received from the government,” Lal said. Ravindra Pal Singh of Ballia village, who got a benefit of Re 1, said the government made a mockery of farmers’ plight.

In Bareilly, as many as 57 farmers received waivers ranging from 3 paise to Rs 100. Some 4,814 farmers across UP received loan waivers ranging between Re 1 and Rs 100.

