Sivaganga (TN), May 25: District-level redress officers will be appointed to look into farmers' complaints over the Rs. 71,680-crore loan waiver scheme, Union Finance Minister P. Chidambaram said on Saturday.

It was quite natural to hear complaints here and there as the scheme covered 4.3 crore beneficiaries throughout the country.

The grievance redress mechanism would facilitate an error-free settlement of loans, he said inaugurating the 1,852nd branch of the Indian Overseas Bank at S.Pudur in this district.

Executives and other officials including chairmen and managing directors of all nationalised banks would visit their branches in the next 30 days to verify the list of beneficiaries and cross-check figures. The list with details of the amount waived should be displayed in all branches of nationalised and cooperative banks on June 30.

Mr. Chidambaram said farmers who found discrepancies in the lists could approach the bank authorities with details.

The grievance redress officers, appointed by all nationalised banks in all districts, would go into the genuineness of farmers' claims and take decisions as per rules.

On the government increasing the loan waiver package from Rs. 60,000 crore to Rs. 71,680 crore, the Minister said the decision was taken on the basis of a study conducted to find out the benefit for farmers who had land holdings above five acres.

The study showed that their average debt was around Rs. 19,000. As per the earlier decision, they would have got a relief of only Rs. 5,000. Hence, it was decided that farmers in 237 rain-fed districts, out of 596 districts, could get a relief of 25 per cent of total loan or Rs. 20,000, whichever was higher.

Chidambaram said 17 districts in Tamil Nadu, including Sivaganga, were identified as rain-fed. Based on the latest decision, loans taken by farmers in these districts would more or less be waived fully.