Pomegranate growers are crying for help

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ENARADA, Bengaluru, March 18, 2015

Every political party grabs the power with an assurance of helping farmers but once they embrace power they forget farmers and start enjoying power, alleges Pomegranate growers who have lost their crops and turned themselves as huge defaulters for not their mistake.

Pomegranate growers from 13 districts of Karnataka held a press meet today and described the horrid situation they are living in  between heartless Government and harassment by Banks which provided Agricultural loans to them.

They used to get emotional in between and they became speechless many times as the tears rolled down their cheeks while trying to explain how the Dundanu Angamari (Bacterial Blite) disease destroyed  their Pomegranate crop miserably from the year 2002 to 2009, and the harassment by financial institutions for recovery of loan.

Pomegranate growers 18-3-2015, enarada.com
Pomegranate growers assembled in press club today and displayed the bank notices received by them. Photo: ENARADA.COM

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“We are farmers not imposters. Around 7500 farmers took a loan of Rupees 177.47 Crores from different nationalised banks  for cultivation of Pomegranates and lost everything due to crop failure. After simple interest, Compound interest and penal interest the seed loan has escalated to 338.28 Crores as of now. As the Government promised to waive off the loan and the interest accumulated, we were relived but none of the 5 Chief Ministers from all the parties kept their promise and unable to face the torture by financial institutions, we have decided to end our lives,” said Abdul Nayeem, president of  Akhila karnataka Dalimbe Belegarara Horate Samiti, while literally crying.

Shivakumar, a progressive farmer from Sira Taluk, Tumkur District said he had raised a loan of Rupees 15 lakhs from Canara bank and did not get even one rupee in return as his 10 acres of Pomegranate cultivation suffered a misfortune. The loan amount kept increasing due to accumulation of penal interest and he has to repay more than  50 lakhs now and only way to repay the loan is by selling all his properties including the agricultural land he possess.

Basavaraj from Yalburga Taluk in Koppal District said he and his mother Sangamma jointly took the loan of Rupees 4,15,000 and after accumulation of interest, Bank officials have issued a notice for paying up Rupees 15 lakhs before March 31, 2015 and failing which may attract open action of all his properties.

“Those who are taking into cultivation of Pomegranate after the year 2010 are earning decent money as the disease is not affecting the crop but we were the most unfortunate farmers who burnt our fingers for not our fault,” said Shivakumar, farmer from Hunasehalli village in Sira taluk.

Around 250 affected farmers visited the Press Club and displayed the notice received by the banks. They later submitted the memorandum to Governor to bail them out.

As the section 144 was clamped in and around Vidhana Soudha, police did not allow them to take out a march towards Governor’s office and few leaders collected memorandum from all of them. Police took five of the leaders to the Governor’s office but Governor could not meet them and they submitted memorandums to officials present there with a hope that some miracle may happen.

“We have submitted as much as 300 memorandums and officials said Governor cannot understand Kannada Language, and it may take some time to translate it into Hindi. We have explained our inability to pay huge debt and waiting for help from the Governor,” said Abdul Nayeem, President of Pomegranate growers action committee.

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