Demonetisation claims farmer’s life in GH

From Our Correspondent

TURA, DEC 12: Demonetisation claimed its first victim in Meghalaya as a farmer in South West Garo hills hanged himself after he failed to repay a loan of Rs 10, 000 he had taken from a neighbour.

Fifty years old Wajning Momim , a well to do farmer, committed suicide by hanging on December 8  in Sindilgre village in Salmanpara. Locals said that he had borrowed Rs. 10,000 from a neigbour with a promise to repay within three days.

However, as the bank was unable to provide him the required cash, the farmer hanged himself as he was ashamed he could not keep his word for repaying the loan.

Many farmers in the Garo hills do not keep money in banks.

A distraught family of the farmer has now sought to move the state seeking compensation for the death and even threatening to go to Court if the state did not heed their appeals.

Momin had recently opened an account in the bank and had deposited all his savings. He was a well-to-do farmer and had good savings.

He needed the money urgently to clear school dues for his children and payment for daily wage labourers, who were engaged by him for construction of a house.

However the recent demonetization announced by the Prime Minister, Narendra Modi, forced him, after he was cajoled to do so by his family, to open an account and put his entire life savings into the bank (over Rs 50 lakhs).

Momin, prior to the demonetization, had started construction of a new house. His plans however met with a cash crunch, roadblock as labour payments became overdue.

“He borrowed an amount of Rs 10,000 from his neighbour with the promise to pay it back in three days. When he went to Ampati town (19 kms away) to withdraw the money (Rs 20,000) from his account, lack of cash in the bank restricted his withdrawal to only Rs 6000,” said a family member.

Unable to bear the shame of not being able to live up to his word, a desperate Momin hanged himself that same evening.

“He had never borrowed money from anyone and not being able to repay it drove him into a desperate spot,” said a family member of Momin, on the condition of anonymity.

Meanwhile a visibly angry family of Momin has blamed demonetization for the cause of the farmer’s death.

Reacting to the suicide, MLA of Salmanpara, Winnerson D Sangma (under which the village falls) felt there was a need to review the withdrawal limits for the north eastern state given that the states were Christian dominated and Christmas was just around the corner.

“Most of the Northeastern states are dominated by Christians and we are into the Christmas season. While we understand demonetization, the fact that this is the biggest festival for us (Christians), the central government needs to relook and relax the current prohibitions of withdrawal of money,” he said.

“We fear there will be a reprisal of such cases if these restrictions are still in place. Families can break up due to the lack of cash as young children will not listen to their families given that it is the festival of celebration,” felt Winnerson.

Winnerson has also urged the bank officials as well as administration to make an assessment regarding the fund requirement for the region so that things can move in the right direction.

“There are contractors’ payments, MGNREGA wages as well as advance salaries to be paid to various stakeholders. We would like to urge the administration and the bank can get together to make an assessment so that cash can be made available. This information can then be sent to the RBI with a request for relaxing withdrawals in view of Christmas,” he added.

Meanwhile the Meghalaya Pradesh Youth Congress (MPYC) president, Richard Marak has sought counseling from bank officials as well as state to ensure no further loss of life due to demonetization.