Farmer writes to Prime Minister, alleges exploitation by bank employees

Tribune News Service

Bathinda, March 26

Harcharan Singh, a farmer of Phoos Mandi village, has written a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi complaining against officials of Canara Bank for allegedly exploiting poor farmers by taking advantage of their illiteracy.

In the letter, Harcharan Singh has stated that in order to meet the agricultural expenses, he availed of a KCC limit from Canara Bank, Jassi Pao Wali village branch, on June 21, 2013.

He was regularly paying the loan as per the payment schedule, he said.

Harcharan Singh has claimed that as per the guidelines of the RBI, interest rate in KCC limit accounts is 7 per cent up to the amount of Rs 3 lakh and the bank is bound to provide 3 per cent subsidy to the farmers whose loan account is regular and not defaulting on the instalments.

He alleged that on June 21, 2013, the bank officials had charged Rs 4,796 in excess from him on account of interest and further, they had also embezzled Rs 24, 750 — Rs 9,000 for the year 2013-14, Rs 9,000 for the year 2014-15 and Rs 6,750 for the year 2015-16 — on account of subsidy but did not provide the benefit to him even though he was eligible for it.

He has also stated that he approached the bank manager of Canara Bank but the latter didn’t pay any heed to his requests.

He had to approach the main branch in Bathinda, but to no avail, he added.

Later, he submitted complaints to the Deputy Commissioner, but no action was taken, he said.

He has demanded from the Prime Minister’s office that appropriate legal action should be taken in the case.

Punjab president of the Association for Democratic Rights, Bagga Singh, and other members today held a press conference in which they alleged that banks were not giving the benefits of farmers’ credit scheme to the deserving persons.

They demanded that the government should check and make sure that deserving persons get benefits of the scheme.