Farmer spent Rs 1.3L in vain to encash Rs 92 cheque

AHMEDABAD: At a time when million dollar scams are hogging headlines, a farmer from Tanakhla village in Vadodara district has been fighting for justice, and Rs 92, for the past 47 years.
Manilal Bhil’s battle started in 1963 when his father Chagganbhai was given a cheque of Rs 92 by the state government as compensation for a small piece of land acquired for the Naswadi-Tanakhla road.
Manilal, then 16 years old, was sent by his father to collect the cheque from the mamlatdar’s office. Manilal signed and received the cheque. Later, his father went to the treasury office to get the cheque encashed and put a thumb impression.
The officials took this difference of signature and thumb impression as forgery and asked for an explanation from him. Later, a case was filed against him. What started as a fight to prove innocence of an illiterate farmer has now become a fight for justice.
“My father died in 1969 with the blot of forgery. We must have met and written to scores of politicians, hundreds of officials in different departments but there is no information about where the cheque has gone and from where we will get our money with interest and damages,” said Manilal.
Manilal, father of two sons, says that in his quest for justice he must have spent over Rs 1.3 lakh for the transport and postal expenses. He came to Ahmedabad on Thursday with four others, who are also victims of similar injustice. They have threatened self-immolation outside the Gujarat high court on Friday.