Chikkamagaluru: Opposing the union government for being soft on industrialists, Sachin Miga, President of the Kisan Cell of the Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC), warned of filing criminal cases against banks indulging in forced recovery of farm loans.
The union government has not come to the aid of farmers battering under drought and floods. The low market price for produce has put farmers in further distress and the union government backtracking on loan waiver has only compounded their existing problems, Miga alleged.
There is a provision for farmers to repay loans through OTS, (OTS is an agreement wherein defaulting borrower agrees to pay part of the dues in order to stop the banks from taking legal action against them ) said Miga adding, “But the union government is compelling banks to recover loans by force.”
“There are 1463 accounts which owe more than Rs 100 Crore, which led to the increase in NPA’s (Non-Performing assets) of 21 banks. In addition Rs 7.34 Lakh Crore loans taken by industrialists have been written off. To offset bank NPAs, union government through the last budget, injected Rs 2.12 Lakh Crore in the banking sector to revive the banks. Despite all this, banks taking punitive action against farmers who have taken small loans is unacceptable and criminal cases will be filed against all such banks, Miga warned.
He appreciated the state government led by Siddaramaiah for waiving off farm loans to the tune of Rs 8000 plus crores benefitting thousands of farmers in Karnataka.
