MUMBAI, Nov. 10 -- With 85% of Maharashtra facing a crippling drought, farmers have begun going to exploitative private and illegal moneylenders to make ends meet. With rising complaints against the latter, the Marathwada administration has now begun taking stringent action against them. During the action ordered by the state government, two parcels of land in the clutches of moneylenders for decades were recently restored to farmers in two different villages by the district collector of Latur. In the first instance, Mandubai Davare, 83, from Kalkoti village had borrowed Rs.28,000 against her 1.8-hectare plot for her daughter's wedding in 1995. There was no written agreement, and the transaction was done amicably in the presence of villagers. The lender later prepared a sale deed for the land by forging documents. When Davare went five years to repay the lender Rs.5 lakh including interest, he demanded Rs.10 lakh. While the family complained to the district deputy registrar, the case remained pending for over 25 years. "The land costs Rs.1 crore at the current market rate," said Davare's grandson Pawan. "It was in the possession of the moneylender who grew cash crops like sugarcane and soyabean on it. We were given the papers back two days ago and expect the actual possession to come by the weekend." Pawan added that his family was threatened by the lender on various occasions. A few kilometres away in Thor Makani village, Waman Suryawanshi, 72, had borrowed Rs.4 lakh from a lender at a 3% per month in 2015. He repaid Rs.6.08 lakh by 2017 but the lender refused to transfer the land back to him, having sold the land to other persons with forged documents. "The market price of my land is Rs.10 lakh," he said. Collector Bharat Bastewad expedited the cases which were pending before the tehsildar. "An inquiry was conducted and action was taken under Section 18(2) of the Maharashtra Money Lending (Regulation) Act 2014," said Bastewad. "The moneylenders cheated the farmers and obtained sale deeds against their farmland. The deputy registrar cancelled the disputed sale deeds and ruled that the transactions were security for moneylending and not the sale of the land." The two cases are the culmination of the tightened action against private moneylenders. After the cases were resolved, the administration received 145 complaints in the last four months. Sixty-six cases have been scrutinised so far, and 14 of them revealed prima facie evidence of illegal money lending. "We found instances where moneylenders obtained blank cheques and blank bonds from farmers as security for loans," said Bastewad. The Latur district administration has now registered six more FIRs. The government has also directed it to scrutinise 3,500 licence-holding moneylenders to check whether due process is being followed. "We have directed officials to scrutinise the remaining 79 complaints on priority," said Bastewad. "Even if a single blank cheque or bond is found during verification, the officials have been instructed to register an FIR immediately. Wherever further instances of land-grabbing are established, we will take steps to restore the land to the affected farmers." He added that the government was determined to ensure that such exploitation ends. "The district administration has held around 10 review meetings to push the investigation forward," he said. Similar action has been launched in all eight districts of Marathwada....