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Bankers face 'culpable homicide' charge over farmers' suicides, warns panel
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SME Times News Bureau | 15 Aug, 2018
Taking serious note of massive deficits in crop loan targets, a
Maharashtra farm panel on Tuesday warned banks that if any farmer
commits suicide, the concerned officer shall be charged with 'culpable
homicide'.
Vasantrao Naik Sheti Swavalambi Mission (VNSSM)
Chairman Kishore Tiwari told top bankers at a review meeting with the
State Level Bankers Committee (SLBC) to clear their set crop loan
targets by August 30 for the current Kharif season.
This year,
the state has set a target of total Rs 43,873 crore as Kharif crop loans
to the farmers, of which PSBs will give Rs 24,253 crore, district
cooperative banks Rs 13,193 crore and the rest shall be disbursed by by
private or rural banks, he explained.
"We were shocked to learn
that the public sector banks have disbursed hardly 30 percent and the
district cooperative banks disbursed around 63 percent of the crop loan
targets for the current Kharif season 2018-19," Tiwari told IANS after
the meeting.
He asked the SLBC to clear the Maharashtra
government's plans to extend fresh crop loans to farmers as the state
wants to bring around 80 percent debt-trapped farmers under the banking
system to arrest suicides in 14 worst-affected districts.
"Against
their target of Rs 24,253 crore for the current Kharif season, the PSBs
have disbursed barely Rs 7,492 crore and the DCCBs have given out Rs
82,81 crore (against a target of Rs 13,193 crore), mainly due to the
hostility of the banks and their officials who seem to be
'anti-farmers'," Tiwari said.
This is a matter of grave concern
as the non-cooperative attitude of the bankers further hampers the
government's proposal to give fresh loans to previous defaulters, he
pointed out.
Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis had announced the
agriculture loan write-off covering farmers between 2001 and June 2017.
But after 14 months, confusion continues to prevail in finalizing the
online lists of beneficiaries on account of the banking bureaucracy,
Tiwari alleged.
Tiwari issued a deadline of August 30 to the PSBs
to wipe out their current season Kharif crop loans targets, failing
which the responsibility for any farmer's suicide would be pinned on the
concerned banks and their officers.
An estimated 1,200 farmers
have ended their lives in different parts of the state since January
this year, prompting the National Human Rights Commission to send a
notice to the state and the Centre seeking an explanation.
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