Cooperation Minister S.T. Somashekhar has said that the list of people who have defaulted on loans from cooperative banks includes MLAs Laxmi Hebbalkar and Bandeppa Kashampur in addition to former Minister Ramesh Jarkiholi.
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Speaking to mediapersons in Belagavi on May 10, Mr. Somashekhar said that he had instructed the District Cooperative Banks and Apex Banks to recover the huge loans obtained by politically influential persons.
“It is not just Ramesh Jarkiholi of BJP, Laxmi Hebbalkar of Congress, Bandeppa Kashampur of JD(S) are yet to repay loans. At least 24 persons having sugar mills have availed loans from cooperative banks. Just like seizing houses of people defaulting on loan of ₹2 lakh, steps have been taken against defaulters of big loans by the Apex Bank. Already, notices have been issued to all, and instructions issued to recover them,” he said.
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The Minister said some of the defaulters had not paid neither interest nor the principal amount while some are paying only the interest. Loans had been taken from district central cooperative banks in Dakshina Kannada, Tumakuru and other districts.
To a query on whether the bigwigs were being protected, he said, “We will publish details of the pending loans in the public domain.”
Sugar mills in Karnataka had defaulted on loans amounting to ₹6,500 crore. In Belagavi, the district central cooperative bank had disbursed loans amounting to ₹1,200 crore.
On Siddaramaiah’s allegations of corruption, Mr. Somashekhar sought to know whether no scam took place during his tenure as Chief Minister.
Regarding the private vegetable market in Belagavi, he said that following amendments to the APMC Act, agricultural produce could be sold anywhere. “APMCs should cope up with the competition,” he said.