Bhubaneswar: Many citizens have alleged on various social media platforms that officials of different microfinance firms operating in the state have been coercing the poor women members of self-help groups (SHGs) to pay their periodic instalments despite increasing their miseries manifold during the COVID-19 crisis.
People’s resentment over the issue is evident from the flood of tweets opposing the actions of the microfinance firms. In some areas, the affected have even hit the streets against the ‘erring’ microfinance companies.
A twitterati, @BighnarajPanda9, posted a video in which a group of women members of a SHG in Kalahandi district were seen waving placards urging the government to direct the microfinance firms to stop collecting EMIs during this period.
Tagging Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik and the PMO, one such banner read, “We request for relief from microfinance companies forcibly collecting EMI.”
Most of these SHG members earn their livelihood by working in the unorganised sectors. Many of them are daily wage earners or sell vegetables, ice cream or work at roadside eateries. They have been depositing petty sums with these micro finance firms as a means of their saving.
Incidentally, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has also directed the financial institutions to not collect EMIs from the debtors during the lockdown.
However, these microfinance institutions, which are considered to be an important tool for the empowerment of poor and hapless womenfolk living on the margins of the society, have now turned rapacious money lenders during the lockdown.
Speaking to Orissa POST, Tuni Pradhan, an SHG member from Dhenkanal, said, “Some micro finance institutions allowed us to make the payment for EMIs after June end. However, the officials of many others have been coercing us to pay the EMIs periodically. One such institution is one Arohan Micro Finance. We have requested them to give us some time, as we have no money with us due to the lockdown. But they are adamant on their demand.”
Meanwhile, Union Minister Pratap Sarangi has urged Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik to put in place firm guidelines to rein in the microfinance companies in the state who harass women borrowers amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
