After 18 years, bank returns documents pledged for loan by fishermen

Alappuzha: The State Bank of India (SBI) on Wednesday finally returned documents, including title deeds, pledged by a group of fishermen over a decade after the loan was repaid.

The 17 fishermen had availed a combined loan of Rs 25 lakh in 2005 by pledging 14 documents. The loan, though, was closed in 2010, following the financial assistance provided by the Debt Relief Commission. However, the bank failed to return the documents for long without giving any specific reason.

On July 14, fisherfolk led by CPM legislator P P Chitharanjan laid siege to the regional office of the bank in question, after officials finally admitted to having lost the documents.

District collector Haritha V Kumar intervened on the issue as the protest intensified. A compromise meeting was soon held at the collector’s chamber. The bank promised to ready new documents for all the affected persons by July 31.

“It readied new documents on a war footing by closely coordinating with the government department concerned. The same was distributed to the owners who assembled at the collector’s chamber this evening. It’s a big relief for the hapless fisherfolks,” Chitharanjan told Onmanorama.

Initially, the bank officials were in denial mode over losing the documents. Though they would promise to return them, but stopped short of committing to a date.

The group of fishermen availed the loan to purchase new fishing gear and boats. The state government repaid the principal amount in 2010 after the loan beneficiaries failed to repay.

“A sum of Rs 24 lakh was repaid then. The interest was pending, though. The bank, during the talks, agreed to waive off the interest and the remaining loan amount,” Chittaranja said.