In the wake of repeated incidents of harassment by usurers, Karur Collector T. Prabu Shankar has warned of tough action against those charging exorbitant interest rates.
“I have been receiving a number of complaints about usury by a section of money lenders. We will take stringent action against them,” he said.
Exploiting the poor financial situation of the poor and middle class people, who chose to get loans to meet their emergency, money lenders had been extending loans to them at exorbitant rates of interest. He had received reports that some of them had been harassing the customers by collecting heavy penal interest on loans. Many people who had taken loans from the lenders found it difficult to come out of the debt. No one should be harassed by the moneylenders, Mr. Shankar said and added that some indulged in ‘kandhu vatti’, ‘meter vatti’ and ‘vattikku vatti’. The district administration would take severe action against the usurers.
He said that a complaint box would be placed in all taluk offices in the district for receiving complaints from the affected persons. He had discussed the issue at a recent meeting with the police personnel. Instructions had been given to them to take immediate action against the usurers under the usury prevention and money lending regulation acts in 1957 and 2003.
The Collector said that a district-level committee would be constituted to deal with the cases. In addition to it, divisional and taluk level committees would also be formed to receive complaints so as to take suitable action against the usurers. The affected people could post their complaints to him on WhatsApp at 9489840055 and Twitter handle Twitter@Collectorkarur. They could also reach out to the Superintendent of Police, Deputy Superintendent of Police, Revenue Divisional Officers, Tashildars, Village Administration Officers and Inspectors of the respective police stations.
