Swinging into action to recover loan amounts from the big landlords who owe huge amounts to the co-operative and agricultural development banks, the Punjab co-operation department on Wednesday issued a notices to big-time defaulters including a Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) leader, Dyal Singh Kolianwali whose family owes over Rs 79 lakh to the t Punjab Agricultural Development Bank (PADB).

An official spokesperson on Wednesday said a notice has been issued to the big time defaulter Kolianwali and his family to deposit the loan amount while the family of Bhartiya Janta Party (BJP) Jagdish Raj Sahni has deposited Rs 20.90 Lakh which is 25 percent of the loan amount.

The spokesperson said, assistant registrar of the co-operative societies Malout has issued a notice to Kolianwali for depositing the total amount of Rs 39,00,678 including principal amount and interest. Similarly, notices have also been issued to Kolianwali’s wife, Amarjit Kaur for depositing Rs 35,57,021 including principal amount and interest while his son Parminder Singh has been issued a notice instructing him to deposit the amount totaling Rs 4,62,717 which includes principal amount and interest.

They all have been asked to deposit the amount till 23May failing which their arrest warrants would be issued. The spokesperson further disclosed that Kolianwali and his family refused to receive the notice which then was pasted on their house gate in the presence of village chowkidaar.

The spokesperson further divulged that after the directions by the co-operation minister regarding recovery, the family of former BJP legislator Jagdish Raj Sahni, who owes loan amount to the Gurdaspur Central co-operative bank, has deposited Rs 20,90,800 which is 25 percent of the loan amount.

The loan from the bank was availed by the his daughter Ambika Khanna. It is worth mentioning that in the recent meeting chaired by co-operative minister Randhawa, the minister inquired from the PADB’s managing director (MD) HS Sidhu about the case who then submitted that the concerned branch manager had only prepared the sale case of Kolianwali and his wife.

But the manager did not prepare the arrest warrants of Kolianwali. The minister directed the MD of the bank to immediately suspend the manager. Following this, the assistant registrar Malout was asked to prepare his arrest warrant within one week.

Randhawa maintains that anybody willfully defaulting on loans from cooperative banks will not be spared and strict action in accordance to provisions of law would be initiated against them.