Farmers Movement Archive

Over 5,000 farmers in Bijnor get loan recovery notices, may lose their lands; BKU threatens stir

BIJNOR: A cooperative bank has sent out notices to over 5,000 farmers in UP’s Bijnor district for allegedly defaulting on loan payments, a precursor before the lender seizes the agricultural lands the growers had mortgaged while borrowing the money. According to UP Sahkari Gram Vikas Bank, as many as 5,116 farmers owe around Rs 32crore to it. Assistant registrar of the cooperative bank, Amit Tyagi, said, “There are 5,116 defaulters who had taken loan by mortgaging their agriculture lands. These farmers have failed to repay the loan in time. Therefore, the bank has served notices to them. In the next step, their lands will be seized.” But, when TOI contacted bank officials in the loan section, most of them told that the farmers who mortgage their lands for loan are the last ones to default, unless they are pushed against the wall. A hard look at these farmers’ profile revealed a different side of the story. According to locals, farmers and the farm unions, most of these “defaulters” are sugarcane growers. And for the last several months, they have been waiting for the sugar mills to clear their dues. Some have not even been paid the last year’s dues. Officials said that the mills are yet to pay Rs 350 crore to farmers for the previous season’s crop they had purchased. And, when asked about this season’s payments, the mills said they are yet to calculate it due to the delay by the state government in announcing the State Advisory Price (SAP). Uttar Pradesh, the country’s largest sugar producing state, fixes its own sugarcane price called SAP. The state has not revised its SAP for the last three years. Last year, it was 325 per quintal. Digambar Singh, state president of Bhartiya Kisan Union’s (BKU) youth wing, said, “Banks are issuing recovery notices to the farmers who have failed to repay the loan which they had taken last year. But no action is being taken against defaulter mill owners. When mills pay the dues in time, farmers will be able to repay their loan. Government should tighten the noose on mill owners to clear sugarcane dues. If farmers are oppressed on the name of recovery notices, we will launch an agitation.” Atul Kumar, a farmer of Rashidpur Garhi village, said, “Most farmers in Bijnor grow sugarcane as it is a cash crop. But for some years, mills are not paying cane grower’s dues in time. The growers are reeling under debt. Most of the farmers receiving notices are mostly sugarcane growers.”

The Times of India

2020-12-10

Meerut