Bank officials force a farmer to walk 15km to pay just 3 rupee loan

Coronavirus has put the entire world in a lockdown as there is no antidote of this disease so far. Millions of people across India are under shutdown in an attempt to prevent further spread of the COVID-19 outbreak.

The pandemic has left a huge impact on the lives of almost everyone. The shutdown has also left farmers in disarray. In yet another heartbreaking news, Amade Lakshminarayana, a farmer from Karnataka, had to walk 15 kilometres to reach the bank, after he had got a call from Canara Bank branch at a nearby small town, Nittur, telling him to pay back the loan of 3 rupees 46 paisa.

It is indeed an Inhuman act that Lakshminarayana was allegedly forced to go to the bank to pay back the loan. He had to make the journey from his Baruve village of Shimoga district to the bank, on foot as he had no vehicle owing to the ongoing national lockdown, according to a report in News18.

It is being told that Lakshminarayana, an areca grower, had taken an agriculture loan of Rs 35000, a few months back. However, Rs 32000 was waived off by the government and he had repaid the remaining 3000 to the bank.

The bank officials had called him up, asking him to urgently come to the bank and repay the loan. Lakshminarayana was scared and had no option but to go to the bank, covering 15 km distance on foot, only to find he owed the bank only Rs 3.46.

Lakshminarayana said, “When the bank called me to rush urgently. I panicked. There is no bus service due to lockdown. I don’t have any vehicle, not even a bicycle. I reached the bank by foot to clear my outstanding amount of paltry Rs 3 and 46 paisa. The bank’s inhuman act has hurt me”.

Writer, historian, and activist Dharam Sikarwar is a very active author The Youth. He writes on national and international issues, environment, politics. He is an avid book reader as well.