State lodges 8 FIRs against usurious moneylenders, 2 farmers given land back

MUMBAI: With 85% of Maharashtra facing a crippling drought, farmers have begun going to exploitative private and illegal moneylenders to make ends meet

MUMBAI: With 85% of Maharashtra facing a crippling drought, farmers have begun going to exploitative private and illegal moneylenders to make ends meet. With rising complaints against the latter, the Marathwada administration has now begun taking stringent action against them.

During the investigative action ordered by the state government, two parcels of land in the clutches of moneylenders for decades were recently restored to farmers in two different villages by the district collector of Latur.

In the first instance, Mandubai Davare, 83, from Kalkoti village had borrowed ₹28,000 against her 1.8-hectare plot for her daughter’s wedding in 1995. There was no written agreement, and the transaction was done amicably in the presence of villagers. The lender later prepared a sale deed for the land by forging documents. When Davare went five years to repay the lender ₹5 lakh including interest, he demanded ₹10 lakh. While the family complained to the district deputy registrar, the case remained pending for over 25 years.

“The land costs around ₹1 crore at the current market rate,” said Davare’s grandson Pawan. “It was in the possession of the moneylender who grew cash crops like sugarcane and soyabean on it. We were given the land papers back two days ago and expect the actual possession to come by the weekend.” Pawan added that his family was threatened by the lender on various occasions, and still felt unsafe.

A few kilometres away in Thor Makani village, Waman Suryawanshi, 72, had borrowed ₹4 lakh from a lender at a 3% per month in 2015. He repaid ₹6.08 lakh by 2017 but the lender refused to transfer the land back to him, having sold the land to other persons with forged documents. “The market price of my one acre is about ₹10 lakh,” said Suryavanshi.

Collector Bharat Bastewad expedited the cases which were pending before the tehsildar. “An inquiry was conducted and action was taken under Section 18(2) of the Maharashtra Money Lending (Regulation) Act 2014,” said Bastewad. “The moneylenders had cheated the farmers and obtained sale deeds against their farmland. The deputy registrar has cancelled the disputed sale deeds and ruled that the transactions were security for moneylending and not the sale of the land.”

The two cases are the culmination of the tightened action against private moneylenders. After the cases were resolved, the administration has received 145 complaints in the last four months. Sixty-six cases have been scrutinised so far, and 14 of them have revealed prima facie evidence of illegal money lending. “We found instances where moneylenders had obtained blank cheques, blank bonds and other documents from farmers as security for loans,” said Bastewad.

The Latur district administration has now registered six more FIRs. The government has also directed it to scrutinise 3,500 licence-holding moneylenders to check whether due process is being followed.

“We have directed officials to scrutinise the remaining 79 complaints on priority,” said Bastewad. “Even if a single blank cheque or bond is found during verification, the officials have been instructed to register an FIR immediately rather than merely recording the finding. Wherever further instances of land-grabbing are established, we will take steps to restore the land to the affected farmers.”

The collector said the government was determined to ensure that such exploitation did not continue. “Enforcement requires coordinated action by the revenue, police and cooperative departments, as an assistant registrar acting alone may face pressure or intimidation,” he said. “The district administration has held around 10 review meetings to push the investigation forward.”

Although no cumulative figures are available, similar action has been launched in all eight districts of Marathwada, the worst-hit division in the drought, by the administration.