Patna: The agriculture department has, for now, stopped transaction of advance money given to 2,963 farmers for promoting organic farming.

A decision to this effect was taken in a review meeting headed by department principal secretary Sudhir Kumar on Monday.

Sharing details, a department press note on Tuesday stated that the decision had been taken after it came to light that two or more farmers had registered themselves using the same mobile phone number.

The department had registered a total of 20,162 farmers on pilot basis to launch this direct-benefit transfer scheme under which farmers were given Rs 6,000 each as input advance for promoting organic farming.

The money had been given in virtual form and farmers could use this amount to purchase inputs from identified shops registered with the agriculture department.

When the confusion regarding irregularities in registration of farmers had come to the notice of the department, the issue was reviewed at the principal secretary level and it was found that the problem lied with just 2,963 registered farmers.

Following this, the department directed the bank concerned to stop transaction through these mobile numbers allowing operation through bank accounts of the remaining farmers.

The farmers, whose advance transaction has been stopped for now, have been asked to meet their respective district agriculture officers with all the details for fresh registration and after due verification the officer concerned would send reports to the headquarters on the basis of which their mobile numbers would be added and the money would be transferred afresh.

Taking a lesson from the problem, the department has decided that farmers willing to take benefit of the scheme would have to provide Aadhaar-linked mobile numbers and the software too has been updated so that more than one farmer could not register themselves using the same mobile number.