Yavatmal:
A land development bank in Yavatmal has decided to abandon coercive ways to recover loans from farmers and instead adopt Gandhigiri-like methods.
Maharashtra State Bhoo Vikas Bank will no longer use the method of seizure and auction of moveable properties, particularly tractors, of the defaulting farmers. It has formed two teams of bank employees, comprising eight persons each, to persuade the farmers to pay their loan installments.
The employees would go to the farmers' houses and request them to make the payment of dues, the bank's Recovery Officer Umeshchandra Husey said.
If the defaulter-farmers fail to pay, the employees would sit on a day-long 'dharna' in front of their houses, he said.
The team members would start their Gandhigiri mode of agitation from Friday. Notices have been served to the farmers concerned, requesting them to arrange the payment of their respective dues. "Under the campaign, top 100 defaulters will be covered in the district," he said.
"The Government has asked us to put on hold the forcible recovery of dues, but never ordered us not to recover the dues from the defaulter farmers," Husey said.
"After the notice for payment of dues was served, a few farmers have volunteered to make their payment."
A sum of Rs 6.97 crore is due against 1,210 farmers in 16 tehsils of the district, bank sources said.