Ludhiana: Bank puts 'wall of shame' for loan defaulter farmers

Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh announced a loan waiver to small and marginal farmers for up to Rs 2 lakh. So far none of the loans have been waived away

Image: PTI

New Delhi: In a shocking yet ironical way, a public sector bank in Punjab shamed the farmers who have defaulted on their loans by putting up their pictures. It is ironical as it came at a time when the Reserve Bank of India, itself refused to make public the list of loan defaulters with public sector banks. Despite the Supreme Court's order to make the information public, the RBI refused to make the information public. The step has been taken by the state bank in Samrala, a city in the district of Ludhiana, which will put the pictures of farmers who are in the list of loan defaulters. Not only men but women too have not been spared from the shame in the city. Recently, Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh announced a loan waiver to small and marginal farmers for up to Rs 2 lakh. But after this, the farmers have lost faith in the words of the Chief Minister. One of the farmers, Gurdeep Singh, who had his picture on the board said that he took Rs 1,50,000 loan from the bank. But he believed that Chief Minister's promise would bring him relief. However, everything is going another way round and now he seems to be suffering rather. Not only him but even his fellow farmers are in trouble despite the announcement made by the minister. Read more: Govt to bring law to regulate chit funds, says Arun Jaitley in Lok Sabha Another farmer, Hardeep Singh said in a statement that the government is continuously targeting the poor loan defaulters while the rich defaulters are getting away. He added that after the announcement made by the government they were relieved but so far none of their loans have been waived away. Quoting Vijay Mallya he said that people like him are running away with crores of rupees but so far none of them have been caught. But when it came to farmers, the government is shaming is by putting our photos. This, as a result, leaves no choice to the farmers and they take their lives. Reportedly, around 3,000 farmers in the area may have been affected by the SBI policy in the area. However, the bank officials at the SBI refused to make any statement on the matter and rather said that the orders came from above. While talking on the move taken by the bank, president of the Bhartiya Kisan Union stated that as per the rules of the RBI the action by the bank is illegal. It is illegal to defame anybody in this manner and no bank has any such right. He even added that they are ready to file a lawsuit against the bank if any farmer comes forward.