loans, like awards, can also be provided posthumously! No sane person would believe this, though it has been made possible by a bank of Nuapada district, which in 2008 advanced a loan to a person who died in 2001.
The bank is the rural branch of Utkal Gramya Bank located at Karangamal village of Boden block and the beneficiary of the bank is late Bhika Majhi of Bhoipada hamlet of litisargi village. The scam of the bank does not end here, there are also many other frauds.
The bank also advanced loan to a minor. locals claimed that there is a large difference between the actual amount paid and the amount of loan shown in records. “Nine people of our village were provided loan under agriculture cash credit programme in 2008 and the loan amounts were between Rs4,000 and Rs8,000. Now, the bank demands unexpected amount,” alleged the villagers.
Paramanand Majhi, son of Bhika, got to know of the loan advanced in the name of his father, when he received a notice for repayment of an amount of Rs51,180 in December, 2010. “I ran to the Branch Manager to confirm, whether it was a mistake, but the BM said that it was a fact,” said Paramanand.
Ghanashyam Majhi is now 15 years old. The bank notice says that he has obtained a loan in 2008 and the outstanding amount including interest is more than Rs70,000.
Nilambar Majhi’s wife would have to repay now about Rs89,000. Nilambar’s father, Tarachand was a loanee, who died a year after taking a loan of Rs11,000 in 2008. Nilambar was the only son of Tarachand, but the bank has sent notice in two names: Rs54,468 in the name of Nilambar and Rs34,656 in the name of Haraprashad, where as both Nilambar and Haraprashad are one and the same person. Nilambar died a month after getting the notice. Now, the burden has fallen on his wife.
There are many such cases in Bhoipada hamlet, where the actual loan amount is much larger than the amount shown in records. A rough calculation reveals that nine beneficiaries, including an SHG, have borrowed an amount of Rs2.47 lakh in total for which they would have to pay about Rs23 lakh now.
Investigation reveals that corrupt bank officials in connivance with some brokers in 2008 have misappropriated over crores of rupees by cheating people. The beneficiaries were not issued any pass book after the advancement of cash credits, which kept the beneficiaries in dark about the actual amount of loan advanced to them. They knew about the fact when the notices reached them one after another for repayment.