(This story originally appeared in on Jun 30, 2017)

MUMBAI: The fear that rich farmers may corner a substantial portion of the largesse under the farm loan waiver scheme is not without basis.Statistics accessed by TOI from Maharashtra government's co-operation department shows that just 17 per cent of all defaulting farmers account for 46 per cent of total amount owed to banks in the rural sector.There are nearly 41 lakh farmers in the state who have bank debts that add up to an outstanding of Rs 36,474 crore as on June 30, 2016, the cut-off date set for the loan waiver. Of these, 7.15 lakh cultivators (17 per cent) have loans that add up to Rs 16,669 crore. Each of them have an outstanding of more than Rs 1.5 lakh.The rest have loans of less than Rs 1.5 lakh to repay . They are overwhelmingly in the majority (33.8 lakh) and are eligible for a full write-off. However, their cumulative debt at Rs 19,804 crore is just a shade over those who make up the 17 per cent group.Officials said a significant chunk of loans are from district central co-operative (DCC) banks and these are run by politicians. It is likely that bulk of loans which are being waived would have gone to those linked to their party or families. “We have come across cases where loans of more than Rs 5 lakh were given without even a piece of paper,“ said an official, underscoring the potential for misuse of the waiver scheme.He also said that there are 13 DCC banks in the state that are financially weak and a large number of their defaulters are influential people. A crop loan of Rs 3 lakh can be availed of at 11 per cent interest, of which a farmer has to pay only 4 per cent, the rest being borne by the state and Centre. Hence, funds are often wrongly sourced as crop loans, said an official.