The vicious circle of Loan sharks’ trap puts schooling of Garima in limbo

Kathmandu: The loan shark victims of the Terai region have been protesting in Kathmandu demanding justice after usurers captured their land and houses in a vicious circle of high-interest loan trap.

The victims who have been caught in the net of loan sharks and frauds are staging periodic demonstrations at Maitighar Mandala and Baluwatar.

The moneylenders had tricked the borrowers from Dhanusha, Siraha, Mahottari, and Sarlahi and captured their properties. The victims arrived in Kathmandu by walking for 12 days.

There is also a 13-year-old girl in the crowd, who lives in Siraha Bela and lives in Mirchaiya.

The girl, Garima Ray, has become the voice of hundreds of victims. She has become the backbone of the crowd.

Garima is trying her best to draw the attention of the authorities to gain justice for all the victims. But, even the family of Garima faced huge consequences from the loan sharks.

The painful wounds given by the money lenders had left her family torn apart. As a result, she had tpo drop out of her school.

Garim, who came to Kathmandu on foot from Siraha in search of justice, is staying with other victims in Anamnagar.

They have been spending the night at the ashram of the Tamu Buddhist Service Committee in Anamnagar after the Kathmandu metropolis did not allow them to live in the Khula Manch.

Like the other day, Garima was on her way to join the protest. The team of Nepalviews reached Anamnagar to have a brief talk with Garima on Wednesday afternoon.

Garima poured out her heart about the atrocities meted out to her family by crooked money lenders with our team.

She pleaded with the government for justice. Garima even expressed the pain of dropping out of school even though she wanted to study.

Also Read : Loan shark victims fighting hunger with puffed rice during the protest (Photo Feature)

Indeed Garima’s family fell into the trap of the Loan sharks

It was an incident in 2019 that acted as a thunderstorm in the Ray family. The crooked moneylenders fished her family into the sequential trap of loans.

Her brother suddenly became ill. Neither her mother nor her father had enough money for the treatment of her brother. His father was abroad for employment.

A serious problem was diagnosed in the brain of Garima’s brother. Garima’s brother needed to be rushed to Kathmandu for treatment. During the same time, her father’s salary was delayed.

But Garima’s brother was in urgent need of medical treatment. There was no other option left for Garima’s mother to save the life of her son. After trying all the possible financial sources, she had to choose the option of taking a loan at high interest in order to fasten the treatment procedure.

Garima’s mother took a loan of 2 lakh rupees from her friend Sujata Shaha. But the consequences of the high-interest loan were far beyond her expectation.

Garima said, ‘My mother had already paid 35 lakh rupees to the lender. Not a single penny has been saved that my father had sent from abroad. The moneylenders had even siezed 16 dhur of lands in 2 places despite of paying 35 lakh rupees.’

She says, ‘The document of 2 lakhs was converted to 16 lakhs. However, they are still demanding for more interest amount.’

This led to the family to even struggling to pay for food and room rent. This caused Garima to drop out of school.  The study was halted when Garima was in 5th grade. Her brother’s studies have also deteriorated.

Garima said that many poor, illiterate farmers and laborers of her village have taken small loans. But the moneylenders cheat them and add expensive interest to the principal amount.

She said that many children had also dropped out of their schools like as the lenders had used fake documents to victimize the borrowers.

Many lenders had taken advantage of the illetracy of the poor farmers. They even force the borrowers as to work as domestic workers.

She said, ‘Moneylenders give loans. Then they appoint the borrowers as maid in the house. And even force their children to work in their homes. This has hampered the study of many children.’

Nepali version of the Story