Team Herald
CANACONA: The people who opted for orchid farming in government initiated poly-house scheme have filed a complaint before the Inspector General of Police (IGP) alleging that they were cheated by different agencies and are on the verge of bankruptcy.
Together with the over 20 farmers who had cultivated orchids in South Goa, Suraj Naik Gaonkar briefing the media said that they have been financially cheated by different firms and the loan amount with incurred interest has gone beyond their means to pay back leaving no option other than to commit suicide.
In the complaint submitted to the police stations in Canacona, Margao, Sanguem and Inspector General of Police, the farmers have named poly-house fabricator, RBL Bank and Radiance Agro Pvt Ltd for allegedly misguiding and financially cheating them.
Naik Gaonkar elaborated that their complaints till now yielded no results. With no other option, they said, they recently met Chief Minister Dr Pramod Sawant who instructed the IGP to look into their grievances.
Vinay Tubki, another aggrieved farmer who has a poly-house in Canacona, said that loan amounting to more than Rs 20 lakh have got accumulated and the financial institution that had financed the scheme and the bank have filed cases against them in a court in Mumbai.
“The financing bank had taken blank cheques from us as part of the loan agreement. We were told during the initial stages that poly-house farming is a State and Central government funded scheme and will attract 100% subsidy,” Tubki said.
“In fact now we understand that poly-house structure attracts 100% subsidy before GST and the planting material together with the other infrastructure like irrigation and equipments is only 50% subsidized before GST,” lamented another farmer.
“After our cheques were dishonoured, we are receiving legal notices and court summons since last one year and all our efforts to get justice have been in vain till now, during our meeting with the Goa Chief Minister who has assured us that he would direct the police to investigate in the matter and if that doesn’t materialize, we will be driven to end our lives,” stated all the complainants in unison.
