Wayanad landslides: Kerala govt asks banks to waive off loans of victims; bear the burden themselves

Wayanad landslides: The Kerala government, on Monday, voiced its displeasure of banks deducing monthly instalments of loans from the accounts of the victims of the Wayanad landslides. The government demanded these loans to be written off completely. 

Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan said that waiving off these loans would not impose any unbearable loss on the banks. During a meeting of the State Level Bankers' Committee (SLBC) at Thiruvananthapuram, CM Vijayan said that relaxation in interest amounts or extension of time for remitting monthly instalments would not be the complete solution in the regions affected by the landslides. 

He also pointed out that “many of those who had taken the loans are deceased, and their land has become unusable due to the disaster”. "The only thing we can do is write off the entire loans taken by people in these affected areas," Vijayan said.

The chief minister recalled the horrors and impact of the July 30 tragedy. He said many in Wayanad are farmers but the disaster has altered the very geography of the agriculture lands there. 

These areas have become unstable and neither cultivation nor settlement there is possible. "Most of the farmers in the areas have taken out loans. Those who took a loan to build a house had lost the house itself," he said. Such people are no more in a position to repay the instalments. 

CM Vijayan said that usually banks expect the government to foot the bill of the waived amount but that they should not “take such a stand on this issue”. He urged the banks to bear the amount on their own. 

The chief minister’s statements came after protests against Kerala Gramin bank that allegedly deducted monthly instalments from the accounts of some of the landslide survivors. He said nothing should be done “mechanically at this juncture”. 

Major landslides hit the Mundakkai and Chooralamala regions of Wayanad on July 30, almost decimating both areas and killing over 200 people and injuring many.