Odisha Women SHG Members Rue Bank Loan Notice Despite Account Closure, File Police Complaint

Bhubaneswar: Several members of three women Self Help Groups (SHGs) have lodged a police complaint in Odisha’s Dhenkanal district alleging that even after closing their bank accounts seven years ago, they were recently served a Rs nine lakh loan notice by the bank.

As per sources, the women SHG members filed a complaint at Tumusingha police station in the district on Saturday, alleging that despite closure of their bank accounts in 2017, they recently received a Rs nine lakh loan notice from Bank of Baroda.

In their complaint, the women stated the three SHGs were formed in 2015 and they opened three bank accounts. Though they closed the three bank accounts in 2017, recently they have been served a notice by the bank that the three accounts were provided a loan Rs 3 lakh each in 2019, which they have to repay, lamented Sanjubala, one of the SHG members.

Upset with the bank notice, another woman stated, “Neither have we taken any loan, nor was our consent taken for giving anyone such a loan to anyone. So why should we repay, as we neither have availed any loan from the bank, nor we are aware of any such development?”

Though the local police have initiated an enquiry into the matter, the official reaction of the bank was yet to be received, sources said.