Cooperative societies put on hold crop loan recovery from farmers

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The sustained protests for crop loan waiver by the farmers of the district, who were mercilessly hit hard by monsoon failure last year and consequently suffered huge crop loss, has apparently opened the eyes of official machinery as the Tirunelveli District Central Cooperative Bank has decided to put on hold the forcible recovery of crop loans given to the agriculturists.

This decision, which will certainly give much-needed respite to the farmers, has been taken after a videoconference that Joint Registrar of Cooperative Societies, Tirunelveli Region, P. M. Murugesan had with the Sub-Registrars of Cooperative Societies and Secretaries of Agriculture Cooperative Thrift Societies in Tirunelveli Region on Tuesday (September 15) evening.

The meeting apparently took stock of the quantum of crop loan disbursed to the farmers, the actual yield they got last year and the loan amount to be recovered from the borrowers.

During this meeting, the Sub-Registrars of Cooperative Societies and Secretaries of Agriculture Cooperative Thrift Societies in Tiruneleli Region were advised not to exert pressure on the farmers to repay the crop loans either through phone calls or in person. They were also told not to take any action against the agriculturists, who failed to repay the crop loan properly and missed the monthly repayment instalments until further orders.

Since the farmers will get ready for the upcoming ‘pisanam’ paddy season following the onset of northeast monsoon in mid-October, the cooperative societies have also been told to concentrate on giving fresh crop loans to the new members of cooperative societies and also to farmers whose crop loans had been waived in the past.

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