Farmers from the taluk held a protest on Monday, alleging that they were being cheated by Vinay Enterprises, a Kolar-based company, and some bank officials. The farmers said that the company and bank officials were cheating them under the pretext of giving them tractor loans. The protest was led by the Agro-based Tractor Owners’ Welfare Society. After holding a huge rally, the protesters laid siege to the taluk office.

Hundreds of farmers, along with their tractors, took out a procession along the main roads of the city. The protesters shouted slogans against the bank officials and dealers from the Mahendra Tractor company. They also staged a symbolic rasta roko at the Anjaneya Reddy circle.

Speaking at the taluk office, the farmers’ leaders alleged that the tractor dealers promised to provide them with a two-wheeler, government subsidy, a cultivator, a plough and a crop loan worth rupees one lakh.

Taking advantage of the innocent farmers, they obtained their land records and created fictitious documents.

They then cheated the farmers by giving them a tractor engine, and after two to three months, a trolley.

Unaware of this, the farmers were bearing the burden of bank loans of nearly 5-6 lakhs, they said.

“Bank officials are also involved in this scam. Without informing the farmers, they paid the dealers by means of demand drafts, while they gave no documents to the tractor owners. Now, they are threatening to auction our trolleys if we do not repay the loans,” the leaders alleged. “In some cases, they threaten the farmers, and seize the tractors,” they added.

Through the tahsildar, they submitted a petition to the government, urging them to look into matters such as the provision of loans without examining the farmers’ land, receipts not being given for the amount paid by farmers as a margin, the company’s overcharging the farmers for the machinery, and the increase in interests from nine per cent to 14 per cent. They urged the government to conduct an inquiry into the matter, and take strict action against those involved in the scam.

The farmers withdrew the protest only after Tahsildar Nagaraj received their petition and promised to take strict action against the guilty.