Despite Loan Waiver Why Are Banks Torturing Us, Ask Nagpur Farmers

“The government did not fulfill any promises. The loans that I owe have remained the same.”

(Photo: The Quint)

Video Editor : Abhishek Sharma

It’s been two years since loan waivers had been announced by the Maharashtra government. A huge number of farmers have still not been able to get benefits from the government. Farmers are discontented as there is constant pressure from the banks.

In the year 2017, Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis had announced the Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Krishi Samman Yojna. Under the scheme, farm loans upto Rs 1.5 lakh rupees were promised to be waived off.

To check how successful the government has been in fulfilling the promise, The Quint’s Election Chaupal reached Nagardhan village in the Lok Sabha constituency of Ramtek.

“The government did not fulfill any promises. The loans that I owe have remained the same. People from the bank have come home and tortured me thrice to pay my loans. The government had promised to waive Rs 1.5 lakh from (our) loans and that hasn’t been fulfilled so far. The Modi government has betrayed us.”

Rahul Dharmik, Farmer

Some farmers say they are distressed because of the constant torture by the banks.

“I owe the bank Rs 4.25 lakh. The bank is asking me to pay the full amount of Rs 4.25 lakh. They have given me time till 31 September. Despite that, people from the bank have visited us 3-4 times, and because of that, my father suffered a heart attack and he’s admitted in the hospital now.”

Farmer, Nagardhan Village

The ground reality shows that farmers here have no hopes with the upcoming elections. They are upset with the central and state governments.

“I feel like boycotting, I don’t know which party to trust. For the past two years we have been so disturbed because of the loans, filling up forms, standing in queues, (getting) notice after notice and nothing is happening. People from the bank visit our house. We are worried, we don’t know what to do.”

Farmer, Nagardhan Village

Some farmers have raised questions regarding the Kisan Samman Nidhi Yojna. They say that the government had promised to deposit three installments of Rs 2,000. Many farmers in fact had received the message that the first installment has been transferred. But in another message they were told that the amount has been withdrawn from their accounts.