Bhubaneswar: Union Minister Pratap Sarangi has urged Odisha 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.
These microfinance companies have not stopped collecting their dues despite the fact that the central government has declared a moratorium of six months on loan repayment, he said.
Microfinance companies operating in the state have unleashed a great deal of hardship on the women borrowers, leading to social unrest, intimidation, violence and even suicides at some places, the Union Minister of State for MSME, Fisheries, Animal Husbandry and Dairying said in a letter to Patnaik.
Sarangi, who hails from Odisha, said that on the pretext of helping the rural women to carry out certain activities by way of giving loans with ease of repayment, the microfinance companies have worked out a devious modus operandi to lure the gullible people who are in dire need of some money.
They charge exorbitant interest with a well orchestrated women gang to recover the money in case of default, he said in the letter, which was released to the media.
Besides, in the current difficult times when people have lost their livelihood and are not in a position to pay their installments, the coercive measures adopted by these companies have created an avoidable social tension at many places, he said.
I request you to kindly put in place firm guidelines to rein in these microfinance companies in terms of regulating their operations including interest rate, repayment and recovery to minimize the harassment and ordeal of women borrowers in larger public interest, Sarangi said in his letter.
(PTI)