BELAGAVI: It has been a bad year for Irappa Gurubasappa Hubballi. The 48-year-old farmer lost his entire crop after his five-acre land in Enagi, Saudatti taluk, was inundated during the recent Belagavi floods.
Adding to his troubles, an arrest warrant has been issued against him as he had not made payments on a loan availed from ICICI Bank.
While banks in the state have been warned not to harass farmers for non-payment of crop loans, the ICICI Bank branch in Bailahongal has gone ahead with legal procedures against Irappa, who had availed a crop loan of Rs 2.67 lakh in 2014. He found out about the warrant when police personnel from the Saudatti police station got in touch with him and asked him to appear in person at the station on September 9.
He, however, reached the police station immediately and realised why he had been called.
Irappa was told by the police to talk to the bank authorities and settle the matter. “They told me that otherwise, I would be produced in court as per the order,” he told The New Sunday Express.
Irappa told The New Sunday Express, “I had paid around Rs 20,000 as interest in the first year. But I couldn’t pay the instalments as I incurred losses due to drought. This year, I lost my entire sugarcane, cotton and maize crops and I have incurred a loss of over Rs 3 lakh. I have no money to feed my family and I am now facing arrest.”
In fact, he had also interacted with the bank last year when former Chief Minister HD Kumaraswamy had announced a loan waiver. “The bank personnel asked me to submit a copy of my Aadhaar card and other documents and said that the loan may get waived. As a result, I didn’t pay the instalments this year. Now, the warrant says that I have to pay Rs 4.10 lakh including interest,” he rued.
The district administration has not taken kindly to the move by the bank. According to Deputy Commissioner Dr SB Bommanahalli, the bank had been instructed to get the warrant recalled, which would be done on Monday. “This particular loan issue is in court from 2017. The court has issued several summonses to the farmer earlier. The bank has been asked to get the warrant recalled by Monday,” he said.
Just a month ago, three farmers from Dharwad received court notices to pay up loans on their vehicles.
Investigations revealed that a sugar factory had taken over Rs 30 lakh as loan in their name without their knowledge.