Pain and sufferings of farmers of the Dhamdha area, Durg district, who became the victims of the infamous ‘Ginger’ scam were hardly ameliorated yet, the farmers of dozens of villages in Bhanpuri area of Bastar district are reported to have fallen victim to the lures of a plantation company. Those who were promised handsome gains on maturity of the project are now finding themselves in soup as the bank has sent them notice for repayment of the loan which was never received. The plight of unsuspecting farmers came to the light on Saturday during the maiden Rashtriya lok Adalat where the aggrieved farmers refused to pay the loan alleging that they were cheated by the company in collusion with the bank concerned.
According to victim farmers, Mannuram and Charan Singh Bais of Bakel village and Sukruram Chouhan of Amabal village alleged that in the year 2005 ‘Mangalam Timber’ plantation company along with Bhanpuri branch manager of the bank approached them and asked to join the Eucalyptus plantation scheme for which they promised to provide loan and also assured to purchase the grown trees of Eucalyptus which would give them very good income within a short time and the loan amount would be recovered from the amount given to them in lieu of purchase of the trees.
The farmers alleged that the Branch Manager of the bank concerned gave them only passbook and saplings of Eucalyptus for planting on their fields. Officer of the plantation company and the Bank Manager allegedly told them that cost of the plantation would come around Rs6,000 which could be recovered from the sale of Eucalyptus trees. Mannuram planted eucalyptus in one acre land, Charan Singh in two acres while Sukruram planted in three acres for which they were given 2,000, 3,000 and 6,000 saplings of Eucalyptus respectively. The farmers planted the saplings in their fields but none of the saplings survived despite their best efforts.
later, the bank issued them notice to repay loan ranging from Rs16,000 to Rs35,000 while the accounts papers showed a loan limit of Rs10,500 under the scheme. The farmers, who were asked to come to the lok Adalat through notice, refused to pay the loan saying that they did not withdraw a single penny from the bank as also all the saplings were dead.
According to the victims, hundreds of farmers of Mandlapal, Kungarpal, Kuserpal, Kielavarda and other villages of Bhanpuri area were also victim of the lures of the plantation company.