With no water and huge loans, money lending has become curse of Tamil Nadu

Muthu had taken a loan of Rs 1.40 lakh and has already repaid an amount of Rs 2 lakh, but even after this the money lender was harassing him for more money as compound interest for the loan.

In Tirunelveli, around 600 kilometres south of Chennai, four members of a family including two children attempted self-immolation in front of the district collector's office. The reason behind this drastic act- the unbearable harassment and pressure from money lenders.

At the hospital, the mother and two children died while the father battles for his life. The four, Muthu, Subbulakshi and their two children, five-year-old Madisaranya and one-and-a-half-year-old Akshya Bharani had suffered over 70% burns.

This is just one of the many cases that has been reported from Tamil Nadu where the harassment by money lenders and the huge rates of interest have been claiming the lives of those who barely manage to make two ends meet.

The harassment by money lenders coupled with drought has claimed several lives and the data by the Coordination Committee of the All Tamil Nadu Farmers' Association states that the number of farmer suicides in the state since October 2016 is over 256.

Take the case of V Murugaiyyan of Pirinjumulai in Nagapattinam district. He had taken a 3 acre paddy field on lease for a sum of Rs 80,000. He had borrowed Rs 1 lakh from a private financier. The last year excess rains spoiled the crop and this year, no rains did the same.

Unable to bear the loss and the harassment from the money lender, he hanged himself with an old sari that was used as a swing for his disabled 11 year old son Hariharan. He leaves behind a 40 year old wife, a daughter in class 12 and a disabled son who is 11 years old.

Here is another case and this is about S Rathinavel a 64 year old farmer from Vedaranyam near Neivilaku. On October 30 2016, he collapsed and died. He had borrowed money from a private financier to cultivate land. He had earlier applied for crop loan and he was to get Rs 10,000 from the cooperative society.

However then came demonetisation on November 8 and the cooperative society stopped disbursing loans. He was relying on the loan to repay the money borrowed from the private financier. By the time the crops had withered and the severe loss led to his death. Since it was not a case of suicide, his family is not entitled for compensation too.

Now coming back to the case of Muthu. He was being threatened by money lenders. He had gone to the district collector's office to submit a memorandum.

Muthu had taken a loan of Rs 1.40 lakh and has already repaid an amount of Rs 2 lakh, but even after this the money lender was harassing him for more money as compound interest for the loan.

The DC, Sandeep Nanduri when contacted said that the matter is being probed. There is a problem of money lenders here, he also said. We will form special cell and a team exclusively to deal with the issue. We will form a helpline with the assistance of the revenue department," Nanduri said.

The money lending menace is spreading far and wide in Tamil Nadu. Lenders resort to various ways to harass those who have taken loans at very high interest from them. Either they end up sending their goons or land up at the homes and harass the man in front of their wife and daughters. Incidents of these lenders walking into homes and also harassing the women too have been reported from many places.

It would be nice if both Edapaddi and OPS visited these districts and took stock of the situation instead of spending time at memorials and at the Raj Bhavan.

OneIndia News