Grant loans on ‘mission mode’ in rain-ravaged TN: Jaitley to banks

Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on Sunday asked bankers to go “almost on a mission mode” to extend soft loans to people in the flood-affected districts of south Indian state of Tamil Nadu even as Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa urged him to release Rs 2,000 crore for sustaining renconstruction efforts.

Jaitley, in his second meeting with Jayalalithaa this year, held discussions at the Secretariat here for about 45 minutes during which she apprised him of the “calamity of unprecedented magnitude” that ravaged the Chennai, Kancheepuram, Tiruvallur and Cuddalore districts.

“We have set high targets for the banks today,” Jaitley told reporters after his meeting with Jayalalithaa. There are about 2,600 bank branches in the four affected districts and the bankers have been told that applications for soft loans have to be considered “almost on a mission mode”.

“The eventual target is that almost every legitimate claimant should be entertained. Banks have a sufficient amount of fiscal place for that,” he said, adding that there will be constant review with bankers on the progress by representatives from Delhi.

Further, as many as 11,000 claims were made with general insurance companies, with 2,000 of them settled, said Jaitley, who had earlier met bankers and officials from the insurance sector.

“So, what we discussed at the meeting and with the chief minister is that about 2,000 of the claims have already been settled. All balance claims will be settled in four weeks. And if there are any disputes, rather than people going to courts, each insurance company will have an ombudsman who would setle these claims,” he said. People in the affected districts have to be rehabilitated in terms of housing, housing articles and vehicles even as there has been damage to crops and MSME units, noted Jaitley.

“In some cases, people need education loans. And these are the banking facilities which are available to people. So, we have set high targets for the banks today,” he said.

He said that loans could be distributed under the Mudra scheme as “we have a large amount of headspace” till the end of this financial year. He shared similar information with the chief minister as well, a state government release said.

This was the second meeting between the two leaders this year, the first being in January. However, Jayalalithaa was not in the chief minister’s chair then as she had been disqualified following her conviction in an assets case.

She was later acquitted by Karnataka High Court, paving the way for her return as the chief minister.  Jaitley said the government had already reached out to 72 lakh beneficiaries under Mudra scheme this year and added that “the target is that we can almost go up to three times that figure”.

Even if a significant number of the 28 lakh families in the affected districts applied under this category, they would fill the requirement as far as business and housing loans are concerned, he said.

The Union Finance Minister indicated that there were no discussions on GST Bill with Jayalalithaa, as was being widely speculated, and the focus was on the rehabilitation of flood- hit people. He also refused to field questions on the DDCA and Nirbhaya issues. “The principal purpose of the visit has been to assist (Tamil Nadu) in terms of the recent natural calamity and our emphasis has been on that,” he said when reporters sought to know if he had discussed GST Bill with Jayalalithaa.

Earlier, at a programme to distribute loans and financial assistance to the affected persons, Jaitley said his visit has come to the city when it was facing “challenging times”. “The city and districts have faced the greatest challenges of nature. The fury of nature we have seen in the last few weeks is almost unprecedented.

“The immense amount of damage wreaked by this fury also is beyond human capacity to defy,” he said, adding that “the immediate challenge is to extend relief, save human lives and provide the basics for livelihood”. 

In her meeting with Jaitley, Jayalalithaa detailed the advanced precautionary measures taken by her government to face the north-east monsoon, but said the “unprecedented, mammoth adversity” necessitated central financial assistance.