Tripura govt asks banks to release sanctioned loans

Agartala, Jun 17 (UNI) The Tripura government has asked nationalised banks to release funds against government-sponsored schemes, including the Prime Minister Rojgar Yojana (PMRY), within this month.

Official sources here today said the state authority, in the State Level Bankers' Committee meeting yesterday, had expressed displeasure over the performance of the banks in regard to releasing the sanctioned loans to self-help groups and citizens.

The report alleged that eight nationalised banks, operating in the state, had accepted 2,864 proposals for the PMRY amounting to Rs 25.58 crore till March but only Rs 4.6 crore was disbursed till the last week, while out of total allocation of Rs 4.59 crore, only Rs 2.44 crore was released under Swabalambayan Scheme.

''The percentage of fund disbursement for the self-employment schemes is very low in comparison to the government-sanctioned projects,'' Commissioner of Tribal Welfare Department S K Das said adding that the bankers were asked to release funds against all sanctioned schemes within this month.

The poor Credit-Deposit Ratio (CDR) was also discussed in the meeting and the banks were also requested to increase the CDR in the state, while the bank officials claimed that one-time settlement of outstanding loans would increase the CDR.

Meanwhile, the state government asked the bankers to relocate their branches, which had earlier been shifted to distant areas due to militancy-related problems. More than 10 branches of various nationalised banks had been relocated to safer places due to insurgency.

However, official sources said as the situation had improved significantly, all the abandoned branches were instructed to cater to the local people.

UNI