Alappuzha: Nearly two months after he had ended his life in the face of mounting debt, the family of K G Prasad - a paddy farmer in Thakazhi in Kuttanad- has received a notice seeking attachment of property.
The notice, served by the Scheduled Caste Development Corporation, asked the family to pay dues worth Rs 17,600 in five days to avoid the attachment of their property of five cents. It pertained to the repayment of Rs 60,000 that Prasad had borrowed from the Alappuzha office of the Corporation in August 2022 in the name of his wife, Omana.
Although Rs 15,000 was repaid on this account, the family has defaulted on its repayment since March last year. Though the notice was issued on November 14 -- three days after Prasad’s death, the family received it just a couple of days ago.
Confirming the receipt of the notice, Omana, the wife of the deceased farmer, said she could not clear the dues as the family continued to be in dire financial straits.
“I couldn’t go to work since my husband’s death,” says the inconsolable woman, an employment guarantee worker.
The receipt of the notice, meanwhile, flies in the face of assurances given by the state ministers, including Agriculture Minister P Prasad, to explore the possibility of writing off the debts incurred by the farmer.
Kuttaband-based K G Prasad, 55, had killed himself on November 11 after allegedly failing to fund his paddy cultivation. He had left a suicide note in which he accused the State Government and certain banks of 'pushing him into an acute financial crisis that forced him to take the extreme measure'. He charged that none of the banks were ready to extend him a loan due to a low CIBIL score. He also accused the state government of failing to make payment to the bank for the PRS loan taken and the interest thereof, further lowering his CIBIL score.
Prasad was a BJP activist and had served as the President of the BMS Thakazhi unit.
