CM for easy credit facility through cooperative banks

Tribune News Service

Shimla, November 8

Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur sought personal intervention of Finance Minister Arun Jaitley to ensure hassle-free credit facility under various Central schemes through cooperative banks.

Thakur, who met Jaitely in New Delhi today, apprised him that cooperative banks had not been made member lending institutions under the Credit Guarantee Fund Trust for Micro and Small Enterprises (CGTMSE) and the Small Farmers Agri-Business Consortium (SFAC) due to that potential entrepreneurs were not getting loans facility.

This would not only help cooperative banks in expanding their credit portfolios, but also generate employment as well as growth, a release said.

The Chief Minister also urged him to persuade the World Bank to continue to fund the integrated development project for source sustainability and climate resilient rain-fed agriculture (IDP) as a separate project.

However, Thakur explained the Finance Minister that objectives and implementation strategies of both projects were different and added that objectives of the IDP was to address the agrarian sector and mitigating the effects of climate change, improving the availability of water for irrigation to increase agricultural productivity and livelihood of farmers by directly working with gram panchayats.

He said on the other hand, FPP was core forestry project aimed at improving management and community use of forest and alpine pastures.

He said concerns of the state regarding fund requirements in the project had not been rightly considered by the World Bank while recommending the merger and requested for separate funds for the IDP for its effective implementation.

Arun Jaitley assured him to provide all help. Additional Chief Secretary Dr Shrikant Baldi, ACS, Tourism, Ram Subhag Singh and Additional Principal Secretary to the CM Sanjay Kundu accompanied the Chief Minister.