Helplines to rescue microfin victims

Desaraju Surya / TNN / Apr 22, 2006, 02:52 IST

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The panchayat raj department has directed collectors to open helplines to provide necessary protection to the borrowers of small loans.

HYDERABAD: The panchayat raj department has directed collectors to open helplines in the mandal revenue offices, revenue divisional offices and collectorates to provide necessary protection to the borrowers of small loans.
In a detailed letter to collectors, principal secretary (rural development) K Raju has directed that an officer be posted at all the helplines to receive complaints from harassed microfinance borrowers.
Among the other major measures that the government has suggested to the collectors is constitution of village and mandal vigilance committees involving the sarpanch at the village level and the mandal revenue officer and police station house officer at the mandal level to keep a tabs on the practices of MFIs.
Raju also suggested preparation of plans for self-help group-bank linkage to provide loans to SHGs or the village organisations whose members fell into the debt trap of the MFIs.

Bankers have to be sensitised to extend loans, and additional loans wherever required, to the SHGs that are badly affected due to borrowings from the MFIs.
Importantly, the principal secretary directed the collectors to collect data regarding deaths of micro finance borrowers and the insurance claims paid to the victims'families.
The collectors should direct the mandal revenue officers and the local police inspectors to conduct meetings at the mandal level with the centre leaders of MFIs, who are mostly anganwadi teachers and animators, and warn them to stop intimidating the borrowers.

Besides these measures, it has also been suggested that an extensive campaign at the village-level be taken up involving community-based organisations like the village organisations\mandal samakhyas to educate the poor on the exploitative practices of the MFIs.
"I request the collectors to take up necessary measures immediately to materialise the core content of the aforementioned framework. The end objective of all the steps could be to enable the community to attain economic self-reliance,"Raju noted.
Meanwhile, the Krishna district administration has already opened a helpline in the District Rural Development Agency office in Machilipatnam to help out the MFI victims.
It may be recalled that Krishna district accounted for 10 suicides (officially confirmed) by MFIs victims in the last few months while other districts like Guntur and Nellore too have witnessed similar incidents.
Krishna collector Navin Mittal told TOI that they would be opening helplines in all the mandal revenue offices and the revenue divisional offices besides taking up an awareness programme to prevent exploitation of gullible people.

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