Vicious traps of loan sharks
Izzat Ali and his wife give a bleak look at their Kapashatia village house in Harinakundo upazila under Jhenidah district as their two physically challenged daughters fled home after failing to give exorbitant interest to loan sharks. Inset, a house at Daulatdia village in the same upazila lies abandoned as its owners Mokaddes Ali and his wife went into hiding to escape wrath of usurers.Photo: STAR
Less than a year ago, physically challenged siblings Anjira, 26, and Rupali, 27, took a Tk 5000 loan from two loan sharks of Kapashatia village under Harinakundo upazila in the district. Anjira and Rupali, living on meagre income they receive for working at a tailoring shop and a hotel respectively, paid back Tk 9000. But the lenders insist that the loan has spiralled to Tk 24,000 with interest. Fearing wrath from the loan sharks, the two sisters went into hiding in May this year. In April 2011, Mokaddes Hossain of Daulatpur village under the same upazila, borrowed Tk 1 lakh from two other loan sharks of Kapashatia village. Under serious pressure to repay the loan with interest, Mokaddes sold his land and gave Tk 3 lakh to the lenders. But the lenders demanded a staggering accumulated amount of Tk 16 lakh from him. In the face of intimidation and threat, Mokaddes recently went into hiding, leaving behind his distressed family. "I am now unable to send our children to school," Mokaddes' wife Majeda Khatun told this correspondent. Throughout the district, stories of helpless poor peasants getting entangled in the vicious traps of loan sharks are widespread. Locals have termed such loans as 'current loan', styled after 'current net', which is used for trapping even very small aquatic creatures. Intimidated, harassed and often assaulted by the loan sharks, many debt-ridden farmers and poor people in the area have left home and gone into hiding. Many people have lost their homesteads and agricultural lands as these gangs, prowling the villages with ready cash, had entangled them into a vicious cycle of loan and its unbelievably high interest. In two unions of Harinakundu, loan sharks have lured scores of farmers into their nets, keeping them in the dark about exorbitant amounts of interest. When a poor man is desperate for a small amount, say Tk 5,000, the loan sharks quickly entangle him without the victim's knowledge that he would have to return up to 20 times more, locals said. “The repayment of interest only is done in small weekly instalments. The farmer thinks he is paying back the actual loan by paying an instalment but in fact the actual loan remains intact until the loans sharks have realised a huge amount of interest over a period of two to three years,” said a shopkeeper in Daulatpur village, requesting anonymity. This correspondent recently visited a few villages in the area in an attempt to take versions of several money lenders, but they fled the scene after sensing presence of journalist. "Recently a destitute housewife approached me and burst into tears, saying that she had lost her homestead to 'current loan' sharks," said Kapashatia union parishad chairman Moshiar Rahman Joarder, also convenor of Harinakundo upazila Awami League. Another leader, on condition of anonymity, said “I know scores of families of the two unions are becoming paupers due to the situation. But the loan sharks are ruling party adherents. If I try to resist their activities there will be a chaos in the party,” he added. Harinakundo Upazila Nirbahi Officer Abdur Razzak said, "I am not aware of the problem. But trapping innocent people in this way is undoubtedly a heinous act. I shall look into the matter." Abul Khayer, officer in charge of Harinakundo police station, said in case of such allegation, he would take stern action against the gangs of loan sharks.
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