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Geetanjali Gayatri
Tribune News Service
Chandigarh, May 22
Earning just enough from his six acres to feed his family of 11 and meet agricultural inputs costs, Ram Phal of Jind’s Rajpura village hardly gets any rest these days.
Busy visiting relatives to arrange for money to put off “kurki” (auction) announced by Land Mortgage Bank, now christened Haryana State Cooperative Agricultural and Rural Development Bank, Ram Phal is knocking on all doors.
“I have got an auction notice from the Assistant Registrar, Cooperatives, for May 30. Against a home loan of Rs3 lakh taken in 1998, I have already repaid Rs1.2 lakh. I intend paying the rest, but crop returns have been poor and I am yet to get my payment for this year’s crop. With no money, I am forced to ask for money from my relatives,” he said, adding the bank was asking for Rs11.5 lakh.
While the bank notice pegs the recovery at Rs89.84 lakh, Ram Phal has only managed to collect just Rs3 lakh. “The auction notice is insulting. If I am unable to pool all my resources and pay the outstanding amount, my only other option is to end my life while asking my family members to follow suit. Then the government can do what it wants with my land and sell it for what it is worth,” he said.
Ram Phal is not alone. “Kurki” notices have been served on at least five other farmers in Jind. Balraj (47) of Shahpur village has a loan of Rs11.88 lakh taken for a poultry farm.
“We are three brothers. We took the loan in the name of a poultry farm. We used Rs5 lakh to lay a pipeline through our fields. This was about 15 years ago. All three of us have parted ways. Now, the entire loan is against my name. I was illiterate and my brother used that to his advantage to cheat me. Now, I don’t have funds to pay off the loan,” he claims.
The farmers say they are in a fix as their earnings don’t permit them to pay back huge amounts. They, however, say they can repay the loan if the principal amount is to be given.
Another farmer, Dilbagh, has a loan of Rs6.56 lakh. He is hoping the government would come to his rescue since he has no source of repaying it.
Sources in the Cooperatives Department said the state government had no role in issuing auction notices
“Auctioning off land is the last option. We give farmers a chance to give their land on lease and repay the loan with half their earnings or pay instalments. Only when farmers falter on three or more instalments, we issue auction notices,” an official said.
Minister of State for Cooperatives Manish Grover said the government was not in favour of auctioning farmers’ land. “The bank has served notices as per the conditions farmers agreed to while seeking the loan. We can do little since they agreed to the terms and conditions,” he said, washing his hands of the matter.
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