THOOTHUKUDI
Jewellery pledged in primary agriculture cooperative societies of Kurumbur and Villiseri should be returned to the farmers if they had repaid their loans with interest as original jewellery pledged in these societies had been replaced with fake ornaments, said farmers.
Raising the issue in the grievance meet here on Thursday, vice-president of the Thamizhaga Uzhavar Munnani Thamizh Mani said action had been taken against the president of Kurumbur Primary Agriculture Cooperative Society where funds had been misappropriated to the tune of Rs. 30 crore by replacing genuine ornaments with fake jewellery. However, the secretary had been spared.
“We are told that the pledged jewels kept in 261 bags are still missing as the fraudsters have replaced the genuine jewellery with fake ornaments. These replaced genuine jewellery have been pledged by the fraudsters in other financial institutions for personal benefits. The actual borrowers are not sure of getting their jewellery back even after they have repaid their loans. The Collector should take steps to return the pledged jewellery immediately to the borrowers if they have repaid their loans,” Mr. Thamizh Mani said.
Collector K. Senthil Raj, who chaired the meeting, said the district administration, which had initiated impartial inquiry into the issue, had taken steps to return the jewellery to the borrowers from July 1 onwards if they had repaid their loan with interest.
Subsequently, farmers from Villiseri raised questions about the alleged scam in Villiseri Primary Agriculture Cooperative Society. “The office-bearers of the society are threatening borrowers and refusing to return the jewellery even after the loans were repaid with interest. The Collector should intervene,” said Premkumar, president of Lemon Farmers’ Welfare Association of Villiseri.
The Collector assured them that jewellery would be returned to the borrowers within a week if they had repaid the loans properly.
When farmers Mariappan and Dixon urged the Collector to allow the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Gurantree Programme workers in farming operations, he said any policy decision in this connection could be taken only by the government.
The officials informed that insurance benefits to tune of Rs. 124.80 crore had been given to 71,705 farmers, who had suffered crop loss in cultivation of maize, black gram, coriander, plantain and onion in the district while Rs. 50 crore would be given to the chilli growers before the end of July.
The request to give Rs. 1 lakh per acre as incentive for organic farmers would be forwarded to the government, the officials said.
After Joint Director of Agriculture S.I. Mohideen explained the ongoing farming operations in the district, officials from IFFCO gave a powerpoint presentation on the advantages of using nano urea.
