MillenniumPost
Bengal

Out of 20L applications, banks clear less than 2L Kisan Credit Cards

Kolkata: Even after 20 lakh fresh applications were submitted to the nationalised banks, less than 2 lakh farmers have received the Kisan Credit Cards (KCC) till June end.

The state government took the special drive to facilitate submission of filled-up application forms along with relevant documents by farmers before the set deadline, but "the lackadaisical attitude of nationalised banks is depriving the farmers in Bengal" to reap the benefits of KCC.

This comes when farmers had filled up application forms braving COVID-19 and inclement weather with a hope of getting financial benefit meant for them.

Soon after the move taken by the state government to facilitate 20 lakh more farmers get KCC, officers of the state agriculture department and the district authorities held camps following COVID-19 norms to collect application forms and relevant documents from farmers. Despite timely submission of more than 20 lakh fresh applications along with documents of farmers by Agriculture department officials, less than 2 lakh farmers have received KCC though all were supposed to get the same by June 30, said a senior official of the state Agriculture department.

The state Agriculture minister Asish Banerjee said: "Farmers are getting deprived of their benefits of KCC just because of the lackadaisical attitude only of the nationalised banks. I did not rule out the possibility of a dark spell of shadow of the Centre's politics on the nationalised banks that prevented them from taking up the task of KCC properly."

"We are regularly taking up the matter with the State Level Bankers' Committee (SLBC) but it is of no help. We had seen farmers filling up application forms standing in slushy ground amid inclement weather. The banks were supposed to complete the exercise within 30 June," the official said adding that it might lead to a huge frustration if the banks do not pace up the process and it will be not surprising if the Opposition uses it as a handle against the state government.

The state government brought 46 lakh farmers under its Banglar Shashya Bima scheme, for which the Mamata Banerjee government pays the entire premium, in the last Robi season. Out of these there are 20 lakhs farmers who have taken loans.

So a fresh drive was initiated to help another 20 lakh farmers out of the remaining 26 lakh to get KCC. The drive was initiated following discussion with all concerned stakeholders. Based on the discussion, the state government has completed all its tasks on time with expectation that KCC will be in hand of all the applicants by June 30.

Interestingly, only 4 lakh of the previous KCC holders have so far received the benefits this time and that too include 2.5 lakhs renewal cases, sources said.

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