Rs 3,006-cr default by state farmers on loan repayment to coop bank

Big landlords (those having over 10 acre land) in the state have defaulted on repaying Rs 366.96 crore loans. This is over 12 per cent of the total default amount on loans extended by Punjab State Cooperative Agricultural Development Bank.

Bạn đang xem: Rs 3,006-cr default by state farmers on loan repayment to coop bank

On an average, these 3,645 landlords owe Rs 10.06 lakh each to the bank. They have refused to clear their outstanding dues. Some political leaders are among the big defaulters. The list includes an AAP leader and chairman of a top cooperative in the state (default amount over Rs 2 crore), leaders of the Shiromani Akali Dal and the Congress, one farmer union leader and former directors of cooperative banks and their relatives.

Xem thêm : S3 Capital Provides $56M Construction Loan for Bay Harbor Luxury Condo – Commercial Observer

Most of them are wilful defaulters and even the successive governments in the state have made little attempt to recover loans from them. A list of these “politically connected and rich” defaulters is available with The Tribune.

On the other hand, small and marginal farmers (having less than five acres of landholding) owe an average of Rs 4.55 lakh, while those having 5 to 10 acres of land, have average defaulting loan amount of Rs 6.55 lakh.

The total outstanding amount due from farmers, who have defaulted on loan repayment, is Rs 3,006.26 crore. Though the maximum number of loanees are from amongst small and marginal farmers, the loan advanced to them, and thus their defaulting amount is much less than the big landlords.

Xem thêm : Student Loan Forgiveness Opportunities Still Available

The total number of farmers who have defaulted on repaying their loans is 55,574. As a result, the bank is once again in no position to advance any new loans. In the past three years too, the bank has not advanced any new loan, and is managing its affairs with just Rs 300 crore recovery of loans it manages each year.

The data has been analysed by the Punjab Vidhan Sabha Committee on Cooperation, headed by AAP MLA from Sardulgarh Gurpreet Singh Banawali. The committee held its meeting during last week, where it advocated for a one-time settlement scheme (OTS) to recover the outstanding dues from farmers.

Independent MLA Rana Inder Pratap Singh, who is also part of the committee, said efforts should be made to give some relief to the small and marginal farmers, but loan, interest and penal interest should be recovered from all big landlords.

Last year, this Vidhan Sabha committee had also highlighted how loan entries made in the revenue records (rapat roznamcha) of 3,780 loan accounts were “mysteriously deleted”. It was then reported in The Tribune, how that helped clear the land title and allowed the owners to sell their land. As many as 561 of those loanees had then quietly sold off their land.