Farmers Camp Chandor
Farmers from Chandor in one voice urged the HDFC Bank to either modify their loan schemes or come up with new schemes which they can avail as the present loan pattern of the bank is not applicable to farmers from Goa.
At a farmers camp organized jointly by Ganv Bhavancho Ekvott and HDFC bank, the bank officer William Fernandes pointed out that the bank can provide agricultural loans only to farmers having minimum 5,000 square metres of land.
The around 100 farmers present for the camp pointed out that by virtue of being tenants of the Communidade their holding was 1,000 square metres and hence they would not be eligible for the loans.
The farmers suggested that the bank comes up with a loan facility for farmers having 1,000 square metres of land or with a loan facility for farmers’ collective, a suggestion that was accepted by the HDFC officers present who promised to take up this matter with their head office.
Ganv Bhavancho Ekvott General Secretary Julio D’Silva explained some of the schemes provided by the Government for the farmers and urged the farmers to start the process of mutating the Index of Land Form I & XIV to include their names. He pointed out that unless the mutation was carried out, the farmers would not be eligible for either the Government schemes or bank loans.
HDFC Chandor Branch Manager Desmond Baptista also explained the Government of Goa’s Laadli Laxmi scheme to the farmers and urged them to avail of it from their bank where it would be handled easily provided the girl has completed 18 years on or after 1st April 2012.