Lucknow: Nearly ₹27.96 crore worth of micro-ATMs purchased for Primary Agricultural Credit Societies (PACS) across Uttar Pradesh have been lying idle, this has raised serious questions over departmental efficiency and accountability.

The devices, meant to empower rural cooperatives and ease financial transactions for farmers, remain unused in most locations with some reportedly damaged due to disuse.

Sanctioned in October 2020 under the Rashtriya Krishi Vikas Yojana (RKVY), the budget for these ATMs was provided by the Agriculture Department and handed over to the state’s Cooperation Department. The Uttar Pradesh Cooperative Bank, under the latter, was responsible for procurement and deployment.

According to internal findings, the bank claimed to have distributed and operationalized the ATMs across PACS. However, a departmental probe revealed a different reality, it claims most cooperatives never received the machines, and where delivered, operations never began. Many devices are reportedly gathering dust or have deteriorated over time.

In a rare admission, Cooperative Bank MD R.K. Kulshrestha confirmed that a report has been sought from all locations where ATMs were supposedly installed. “We are compiling feedback from field units, and a detailed report will follow,” he said. Yet, higher officials remain tight-lipped.

The Agriculture Department, distancing itself from the outcome, emphasized that its role was limited to budget allocation. “Procurement and implementation are the Cooperation Department’s responsibility,” one official noted.

The incident adds to the growing list of poorly executed schemes in the state, reflecting administrative complacency, despite loud proclamations of reform and rural digitization.