Karnataka

Farmers lay siege to bank

DAVANGERE: People of Holesirigere and surrounding villages laid a siege to the Grameen Bank in Holesirigere in protest against the alleged discrimination in the waiver of farm loans.

Farmers who had not paid any instalment so far were getting benefits under the loan and interest waiver scheme while those who had paid their instalments regularly were turned away by the bank, they said. The farmers questioned this alleged discrimination and staged a protest in front of the bank after sending the officers out and locking the bank.

The farmers said that they had repaid a part of their loans in instalments by borrowing money from their relatives and others so that they did not become defaulters. This did not mean that they had had the capacity to repay the whole amount.

The farmers threatened that they would not allow any grameen bank to function if the loan waiver scheme was not extended to all farmers.

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