Thrissur District Collector S. Shanawas has directed the bank concerned to write off the loan arrears of a farmer who committed suicide at Marottichal on Monday. The directive has been given through the lead bank manager.
Thattil Pazhookkaran Ouseph, 86, consumed a poisonous liquid on Friday as he could not pay the loan arrears even after the deadline.
A plantain farmer, Ouseph had taken agriculture loan and personal loans from banks. He used to cultivate plantain on his field and leased land. As his crops were destroyed in the floods in the past two years, he could not replay the loans.
His relatives said he had a debt of ₹1.5 lakh.
“Some banks are sending notice to the beneficiaries of agriculture loans ignoring government directives,” the Collector said. He has called for a meeting on December 19 to examine such complaints.
He asked the banks to follow the government directives when going for recovery of loans.
The Collector will give report to the government on the Marottichal case. He called on the relatives of the farmer at his house on Tuesday.
Bank dismisses reports
Special Correspondent writes from Thiruvananthapuram:
The Bank of India has rubbished reports that a Thrissur-based farmer committed suicide after receiving property attachment notice from the bank.
In a release, the bank said T.D.Ouseph, the deceased, had taken a loan of ₹75,000 without any attachable collateral and, hence, SARFAESI action was not possible.
When he was unable to repay the loan in October 2018 due to flood damage, the bank had restructured the loan and 12 months’ moratorium was given for further payment.
After the moratorium expired and he ran up an overdue, the branch had sent a routine reminder mentioning that non-repayment of overdues would adversely affect his credit history, which has now been wrongly portrayed as an attachment/SARFAESI notice, the release said.
