Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi urges Karanja tehsildar to stop forced loan recovery from self-help group women

In Karanja in Washim district, women of self-help groups pushed into financial distress by drought are finding it hard to pay instalments on loans from micro-finance companies and banks. Complaints have emerged that they are still being pressured to repay. The Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi has therefore taken an aggressive stand on the issue. The party demanded that forced loan recovery be stopped immediately.

Drought has spread everywhere, and farmers and farm labourers are all in difficulty. With no work, they face starvation. In such a situation, repaying loans taken from micro-finance companies, women's self-help groups and village-level federations is not possible.

For this reason, office-bearers and workers of the party, under the guidance of district secretary Usman Bhai Garve, met the women concerned. They learned of the women's problems. They reassured the women and said they would try to secure justice for them from the government.

A memorandum given to the tehsildar demanded that, considering the drought, the women be given relief on loan instalments. It also said the alleged pressure and harassment in the name of loan recovery should stop. Present were women of the self-help group from Murambi village, along with workers including Usman Garve, Sujit Bhagat, Sheshrao Meshram and Devrao Katke.

According to the memorandum, because the women live in a rural area, they are afraid of bank employees and are selling their belongings to pay the bank. This has upset the atmosphere in their homes. The memorandum says that because of the heavy financial strain on them, stopping forced loan recovery is essential. For this, all the women of the Murambi self-help group came together, submitted the memorandum to the tehsildar and demanded a loan waiver.

Meanwhile, in view of a possible fodder shortage, the Karanja taluka flying squad took strong action. The action was taken to stop illegal storage, transport and transfer of fodder. A total of 260 tonnes of soybean husk was seized from the Alinagar and Ektanagar areas of Karanja town. In addition, 10 gutta factories in the taluka were inspected and served notices to stop production.