Cheque books not issued for 2 years, farmers harried

Manmeet Singh Gill

Amritsar, March 19

Even as the government claims to provide easy credit to farmers through cooperative banks, many of them at Nangli-Naushera Cooperative Society complained that they have not been issued cheque books for the last around two years.

Farmers claimed that though their accounts are clear and they have not defaulted on their payments, they are not able to avail the credit facility in the absence of cheque books.

Jagmohan Singh, a farmer from Muradpura, said he has been going to the society’s office for the last two years, but has failed to get the cheque books.

Another farmer Kuljit Singh of Malawali said his account, too, was closed around two years ago. “I had accounts at two societies. After many years of successful transactions, my accounts were closed on the pretext that I cannot use credit facilities from two societies.”

Singh said he then asked the authorities concerned to close one account and keep the one at Nangli branch functional. He said he had recently filed a complaint with the district manager of Amritsar Central Cooperative Society, for which he has received no response. Many other farmers, too, reported that they have not been issued cheque books.

Sources in the Cooperative Bank revealed that the decision to withhold advances was taken informally after the infamous Tarsikka Cooperative Society fraud worth several crores. “The CRR (cash reserve ratio) which was nearly 10 per cent fell to half after the scam came to light,” a source said.

It is being claimed that the advance payments to farmers were withheld with an objective to improve the financial health of society. Sources claimed that in the Tarsikka Society scam, around Rs15 crore were bungled.

District manager Paramjit Singh said: “I had joined around three months ago and have received only one complaint so far.” He said he had sought the reply from the manager of the society concerned and already instructed them to reopen the account.

Singh said the new credit to farmers who are members would be started from April 1. While admitting that the fraud had caused losses, he said the society’s financial health was improving and it was regularly providing credit to farmers.