Coop employees obtain fake loans

Eluru: An alleged cheating on farmers by a section of employees in a cooperative society has been unravelled in West Godavari district.

According to sources, a section of the employees borrowed loans from the cooperative society in the name of farmers without latter’s knowledge. The dirty tricks being played by the staff are seeing the light of the day in dribs and drabs. A good number of farmers were shocked on learning that loans they owed to the societies were in some cases two to three times higher than the money they had actually borrowed. A farmer, who borrowed just Rs 50,000, was told that he had an outstanding loan of Rs 1.5 lakh. The dirty tricks allegedly played by the employees took place in five villages under K Jaggavaram cooperative society, sources said.

A farmer, Challagolla Sudhakar, borrowed Rs 1 lakh at first and later Rs 50,000. But he found that outstanding loan in his name was Rs 2 lakh. Another farmer, Kasineni Madhava Rao of Bandamcharla village, said he had borrowed Rs 1.5 lakh loan in 2013. But his outstanding debt was shown as Rs 2 lakh. A woman farmer, Gangaratnam, had borrowed Rs 70,000 from K Jaggaram cooperative society. But she was told that she had an outstanding debt of Rs 1.25 lakh.

Some of the loans shown as being borrowed by farmers were written off as part of farm loan waiver programme, it is alleged. The farmers alleged that those who took loans in their names had even hidden away the pattadar passbooks to pull wool over their eyes.

By Seshu