Kolkata: Chief Secretary H K Dwivedi is likely to hold a meeting with senior officials of various banks to streamline the process of loans. The main objective of the move is to ensure that farmers from the state can avail of bank loans.
Many farmers in the state have alleged that they are not getting loans from banks. Farmers have faced difficulties on a number of occasions due to various bank-related issues. The state government has already directed all the DMs to ensure the farmers’ interests in their respective jurisdictions. The DMs have also been asked to strengthen infrastructure so that more Krishak bazaars come up in the districts.
The state government is eager to ensure that farmers’ issues are addressed. The state is slated to hold Panchayat elections in April.
The state Agriculture department, on a number of occasions, raised the issue of farmers facing difficulties in getting loans from banks during meetings with the State-Level Bankers’ Committee (SLBC), urging it on multiple occasions to take necessary steps so that farmers do not face any kind of trouble regarding loans. Even Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee had urged senior representatives of the SLBC while holding administrative review meetings in the districts to ensure that farmers do not face any kind of problem in availing of financial assistance. Despite repeated requests, farmers still complain about various issues in regard
to loans, when they visit a nearby bank.
According to some officials of the state Agriculture department, there are complaints of farmers facing problems in getting loans from banks despite having necessary papers or no-objection certificates from concerned officials at the
block level.
The step to urge the SLBC authorities for the same once again has been taken as there have been several complaints in which loans to farmers were not sanctioned at the right time, despite them having received the necessary grant from the state government.