Ground Report: SBI auctioned 28 acres of land of a Dalit farmer of Bhopal, the family made these allegations against the bank officials!

Former Chief Minister Digvijay Singh wrote a letter to the State Scheduled Caste Commission, saying that there should be a high-level investigation into the conspiracy of the bank officials.

Published on: 12 Oct 2024, 6:58 pm

Bhopal. 28 acres of valuable agricultural land of a Dalit farmer family in village Garethiadangi of Bairasia tehsil of Madhya Pradesh was auctioned. The land on which their life depended has now been snatched away from them. Shantibai Mehar, who is a member of this victim family, has tears in her eyes when she tells The Mooknayak , “We were farming on this land for generations, this is our house, where our family of 17 members was raised. But with the connivance of the bank officials, our entire land was auctioned.” Her voice reflects helplessness when she says that her son Narmada Prasad pleaded before the bank, offered money, but their land was still snatched away. Now they are left with no house.

Shanti Bai adds, “We have lived in this place and will die in this place. The bank officials conspired and auctioned off our 28 acres of land on which our family was surviving.”

Know the whole matter?

Garethiadangi village is located in Berasia area, about 45 km from Bhopal. Where a Dalit family had taken a loan of Rs. 4,86,000 for a tractor from the Berasia branch of State Bank of India in 2008 and Rs. 5 lakh for farming under the Kisan Credit Card scheme in the same year. The family had already paid half of the loan. Due to family problems, the bank declared their loan account as non-performing asset (NPA) as they were not able to pay some installments. After this, the bank auctioned their 28 acres of land to recover their loan.

Narmada Prasad Mehar showing documents to The Mooknayak representative Photo: Ankit Pachauri, The Mooknayak

The victim’s family alleges that their land worth crores of rupees was auctioned at a price much lower than the market price. Currently, the price of land in that area is around Rs 20 to 25 lakh per acre, but the bank has auctioned it at a very low price, which raises suspicion that the bank officials are tampering with the process.

Narmada Prasad of the victim family told The Muknayak that they had complained to the government and the bank officials but no action was taken. He said, “Even after depositing half the loan amount, our land was taken away. This shows that the bank officials and the auctioneering agency, along with the buyers, had conspired to buy the land worth crores at a pittance. Our family will keep fighting for justice till death.

Question on transparency in auction

In this case, former Chief Minister Digvijay Singh has also written a letter to the government including the state Scheduled Castes. Singh has alleged in his letter that the auction process is completely suspicious and lacks transparency. The bank published the auction information in newspapers whose circulation is very low, while it was not given any space in the major newspapers published from Bhopal. He said that this entire episode is a matter of serious investigation and a conspiracy has been hatched by the bank officials to sell the land of the Scheduled Caste debtor farmer family for a pittance.

Dalit family’s farm Photo: Ankit Pachauri, The Mooknayak

Dalit family did not get protection

Digvijay Singh also alleged that the government runs many schemes for the protection of the Scheduled Castes, but in this case, no help was given to this Dalit farmer family. Pointing to the state government and the central government, he said that the families of the Scheduled Castes are given special facilities for loan waiver or rehabilitation, but in this case, instead of giving protection to the farmer family, their land was auctioned.

The commission sought a report from the state government

The State Scheduled Caste Commission has taken serious cognizance of this matter and has written a letter to the state government asking it to conduct an inquiry and submit a report as soon as possible. The Commission said that the transparency of the auction process and the role of the bank officials involved in it should be investigated. Also, it should be ensured that the rights of the families of the Scheduled Caste category are not violated.

Farmers demand: The auction should be cancelled and they should be given an opportunity to deposit their loan

Shanti Bai says that the auction of her land should be cancelled and she should be given an opportunity to deposit the remaining loan amount along with penalty. She says that the land is her only source of income and selling it will badly affect her family. In this regard, The Muknayak representative called Ashish Tiwari, manager of State Bank of India branch, Bairasia, several times but could not talk to him.

constitutional approach

Violation of Article 19(5): There are provisions to protect the land rights of the Scheduled Castes under Article 19(5) of the Constitution, but these rights are being violated. The lands of the Scheduled Castes are being snatched away through illegal means, and they are being ignored in rehabilitation schemes. This is a clear violation of constitutional provisions, which endangers the economic security and land rights of the deprived, exploited classes.

This case is not only an issue of rights of the Scheduled Caste farmer family but also raises serious questions on the banking system and administrative transparency.