Loan default: Ferozepur farmers get warrant

Anirudh Gupta 

Ferozepur, April 21

Over 930 defaulting farmers in the border district have been issued warrants for non-payment of loans. A section of farm organisations have threatened to launch an agitation in case any debt-ridden farmer is arrested. 

As per information, the defaulting farmers have a staggering Rs 34.36 crore loan pending for a long time.

Swaranjit Singh, Assistant Registrar, Cooperative Societies, said though warrants had been issued, no arrest of any farmer had been made till now. “The warrants have been issued to only those farmers who had taken loan for purposes other than agriculture, including construction of a house, and have not repaid it for a long time,” he said. 

over 17K defaulters

Under the short-term loan, the cooperative society has 17,531 defaulting members against whom an amount of Rs. 140.63 crore is pending. No warrant has been issued to these defaulters. —Pippal Singh, Official, Cooperative society

Don’t harass them

Farmers are already facing a huge loss due to shrivelled grain. Now the government is harassing them. We will not tolerate this. If any farmer is arrested, the government will have to face the protest. —Khalara Singh Pannu, KMSC leader

Pippal Singh, another official of the cooperative society, said the society provided two types of loans, which included short-term loan for agriculture, besides mid- and long-term loans for other needs. “Under the short-term loan, the society has 17,531 defaulting members against whom a loan amount of Rs 140.63 crore is pending. No warrant has been issued to these defaulters,” said the official, adding there were 4,710 defaulters who were liable to pay Rs 205.76 crore, including the 930 farmers who have been issued warrants.

Urging the government to waive the entire debt of the farmers, BJP leader Rana Gurmit Singh Sodhi said: “Such warrants should not be sent to farmers. I will write to Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann regarding this.

Satnam Singh Pannu, president, Kisan Mazdoor Sangharsh Committee, too, urged the government to waive the debt of poor farmers. There are three cooperative banks at Ferozepur, Guruharsahai and Zira in the border district.  

Join Whatsapp Channel of The Tribune for latest updates.

#farmers