THOOTHUKUDI: A group of women submitted a petition with Collector K Elambahavath demanding action against a money lender demanding high and erratic interest rates during the weekly grievance redressal meeting on Monday.
In a petition, as many as seven women from Harijan Colony of Eral said they borrowed Rs 20,000 from a woman named Kosalai, repayable at Rs 3,000 per month in 2020. However, the lender converted the repayment into 'Kandhuvatti' with a payment of Rs 5,000 per month.
Even though the principal amount had been paid promptly, the money lender demanded Rs One lakh from each of them, the petitioners said. One of the victim said their petition with Eral police was not accepted, as the money lender's son Lingathurai was a police constable at the Nazareth police station.
Some of the victims — Tamil Selvi, Jeyalakshmi and Manju of the same colony borrowed Rs 50,000 from Kosalai, and were forced to pay exorbitant interest rates. "They are now compelled to pay weekly interest of Rs 700 on Tuesday, Rs 500 on Thursday and Rs 1,000 on Saturday weekly", said M Suyambukani, another victim.
"They are being trapped into debts as the usurer keeps increasing the interest of the 'Kandhuvatti' (high interest), despite it being beyond their earning capacity," said the women, who are working as labourers and domestic helps.
Manju alleged that the usurer had been verbally abusing them if they failed to pay the weekly payment. She forced them to repay the money by any means, even by asking them to involve in prostitution, she alleged.
Meanwhile, MM Mujahid Ali, M W Haameed Rifai, and MK Jaferullah of Mass Empowerment and Guidance Association (MEGA), a forum in Kayalpattinam, urged the district administration to initiate a delimitation exercise to increase the municipal wards to 30 for providing better civic services to the public. The municipality has 18 wards since inception in 2004, when the population was at 32,000, but the population has crossed 50,000, they said.
As per the 2011 census, Kayalpattinam has a population of 40,000. Even though the 2021 census has not been conducted, the municipality has recorded more than 52,000 in population in affidavits in cases related to the municipality. A communication with Chairman Muthu Mohammad said the population is currently 52,893, they said.
A member Mohammad Shali said that municipalities having more than 50,000 in population are supposed to have 30 wards as per government rules for local bodies issued by the Tamil Nadu Urban Local Bodies Rules, 2023. The state government and the district administration must initiate the delimitation process, they urged