MUMBAI: The

has decided to impose heavy

on farmers who try to take advantage of the loan waiver scheme by showing

. The department suspects there are over 10 lakh fake accounts.

Learning it lessons from the 2008-09 loan waiver scheme, the state had opted for online registration of farmers. “According to the data collected by the IT department, over 10 lakh accounts may be fake. We will ask the cooperative ministry to take action against such errrant farmers,” state revenue minister

told TOI. “After the 2008-09 loan waiver scheme, NABARD had recovered Rs 117 crore from banks and credit societies in Kolhapur district that were proved misappropriated. In fact, one fraudster had got Rs 82 lakh loan waiver.”

The minister alleged that that most of these fake accounts had been earlier opened by banks or credit societies to siphon off the loan of a family member. “Now, we will start mapping the data collected from both the farmers and the banks to identify the eligible debt-hit farmers.” Patil said the online registration and payment system for various schemes has helped the state save over Rs 3,000 crore.