The Lost tube well

The Lost tube well

This is a true life story of a farmer who took the loan of digging and building a well in his farm. All necessary paper works for the loan were done. Payment was done as per the progress of the work. The government engineer would go on the site and assess the work and the farmer was paid according to his certificate. The final certificate of the engineer was also over. The repayment period started… The farmer paid regularly the three month installment for the first two years. The loan was of 10 years to be paid every three months.

The department sent him the payment reminder when he failed to pay his two installments. He was served with the notice after four months’ default. And he was sued as he did not pay for the whole year. He was summoned to appear in the special court where he was asked of the reason,

“Mr. Farmer, what is your excuse for not paying back the loan installment for long.?”

When threatened to auction his farm to collect the dues, the farmer to the surprise of the sitting judge said,

“Sahib, my tube well is stolen and nothing is left for income. Now I am unable to do farming and hence unable to pay. I will surely start paying once I get back my tube-well”

The judgment committee was surprised to hear that. Perhaps the farmer was not in proper wits.

“How could the well be lost? How can somebody steal a well?  Are you alright Mr. Farmer? “

“Perfectly alright Sir…If you think I am telling a lie, just send one of your officers with me and make it sure “

When the judge sent his assistant on the site of the tube-well, there was nothing. There was no well and no machinery. The assistant checked the site where the tube –well was supposed to be dug and loan to be paid. He made it sure that the land reckoned in the agreement was empty and there were no signs of being a tube-well on the specific site.

He very well understood the truth behind it. The loan farmer took for digging and building his well and to install machineries for watering, he had used in other expenses. The tube well was only on the paper. All the paper documents prepared were bogus. All the certificates prepared by the engineer were bogus. Nothing of the sort was done on the site. The farmer hardly got 25% of the loan. The rest of the money was used by the government corrupted officers.

The farmer was given enough time to re-pay only the money he had used. All the involved people were taken to task and the loan money was recovered.

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Ends