SANGAREDDY: Unlike millionaire-industrialists, who siphon off money from banks and flee the country, the farmers of Papannapet mandal in Medak district rushed to repay their loans.
They crowded the District Cooperative Central Bank (DCCB) after it displayed their names and photos on a flexi three days ago, along with a notice which stated that unless they clear the loans by Thursday, the lands which they had mortgaged would be auctioned.
The farmers said for various reasons they had defaulted in the loan repayment but never intended to swindle the bank. When their names and pictures were flashed on the flexi, they were humiliated and many of them rushed to the bank to pay back their loans in full.
Fifteen farmers had raised loans from the bank, of whom 12 paid 50 per cent of their outstanding amounts on Wednesday, while two repaid their loans in full on Thursday. The other farmer, who is out of station, sought time which the bank obliged.
The bank authorities took down the flexi, as the farmers cooperated with them, and also dropped the plan of auctioning their lands. But the farmers got flustered when they saw their names on the defaulters' list.
"We live in dignity. The bank should not have put up the flexi. It is humiliating. We are not robbers or dacoits. We are not running away from our villages. We had no intention of cheating the bank," one of them said.
The loans the farmers had raised were not huge either - they ranged from Rs 5 lakh to Rs 10 lakh and were for agriculture purposes. "The bank is making a fuss about our loans even though the amounts are small," said another farmer, pointing out that they had given collateral security. "They have our land with them. Why the hurry?" he asked.
The bank's Papannapet branch manager, P Praveena, said: "We were only acting in accordance with the procedures laid down for loan recovery".