Telangana: 420 farmers may lose their lands

HYDERABAD: For the first time, farmers’ lands are being auctioned in the state, for defaulting on loan repayment. The District Cooperative Central Bank (DCCB), run by the government had issued notices to over 400 farmers in Siddipet district for the auctioning of 60 acres of their land from May 10 onwards to recover loans of defaulters. Farmers owe long-term loans ranging from Rs 50,000 to Rs 1 lakh each.

DCCBs give long-term loans to farmers to purchase buffaloes, sheep, borewell, pumpset, pipeline, two-wheelers etc. Farmers have to mortgage their pattadar passbooks (land ownership document) to avail the loans. Farmers Associations are strongly opposing this  loan recovery move of the government and demanding that the government should instead come to their rescue. Meanwhile, bank officials have sent repeated notices to the farmers to repay the loans.

However, with farmers failing to repay the debt, they have issued notices to 420 farmers who together owe Rs 2 crore to the government, stating that their lands would be auctioned. In the first phase, on May 10, the government will be auctioning land belonging to 11 farmers in Kangal mandal. The subsequent phases of auction have been planned in the third week of May. Banks issued notices to 12 farmers in Doulatabad mandal for auction of their lands on May 19.

Notices were also issued to 40 farmers in Maddur mandal for recovery of Rs 18 lakh. In Cheryal mandal, notices were issued to 222 farmers who together owe s Rs 70 lakh. Bank officials said the farmers secured these loans between 2008 and 2014 even before bifurcation of the state but failed to repay them even after repeated notices were served to them.