Minister blames banks for delay in ryot-loans

HYDERABAD: Revenue minister N Raghuveera Reddy flew into a rage against the bankers over DELAY in disbursement of loans to tenant farmers at the 175th State Level Bankers Committee (SLBC) meeting held at Jubilee Hall here on Friday.While Raghuveera Reddy found fault with the bankers for not extending loans to the loan eligibility card (LEC) holders despite the state government providing guarantee for loan repayment, the bankers tried to defend themselves stating that the issue will be resolved during the proposed bankers' meeting to be held shortly.Under the 'Sagu Rythuku Rakshana Hastham' initiated by the state government, LECs were issued to tenant farmers enabling them to obtain loans from banks for cultivation. About 5.45 lakh LECs were issued till date but the banks received applications only from 91,768 LECs.While the SLBC president and Andhra Bank chairman and managing director R Ramachandran attributed the less number of applications to teething problems in implementing the scheme, Raghuveera Reddy held the banks responsible for the poor response from the farmers.“While the heads of all the banks were supporting the scheme, their branch managers at the root level are adopting certain tactics citing procedures and denying loans. When the banks can provide loans to more than 1.05 crore farmers, what is the problem in extending the same to five lakh tenant farmers despite the government's assurance over repayment of loan?” he demanded.He wanted the banks to organise loan melas to encourage tenant farmers to obtain loans.The agriculture officials informed that the State Bank of India was insisting the LEC holders to produce an affidavit over loan repayment.At one point, Raghuveera Reddy threatened to walk out of the meeting hall unless the SLBC passes a resolution to resolve the issue immediately.Chief minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy intervened and tried to explain the revenue minister was voicing woes of tenant farmers who will be left with no option but to approach micro-finance institutions and local lenders for loans at high interest in case banks fail to provide loans.He asked bankers to resolve the issue within a stipulated time and provide loans to all LEC holders.