Deputy Chief Minister Mallu Bhatti Vikramarka has allayed apprehensions of bankers on the functioning of Hyderabad Disaster Response and Asset Monitoring and Protection Agency (HYDRAA), asserting that the agency is not empowered to give building construction permissions.
The GHMC, town planning and other departments would examine the applications and accord permission for building construction and the government would continue the same process in the coming days too, he said. HYDRAA has been entrusted with the responsibility of security, traffic regulation and protection of public parks, tanks and lakes from encroachments by vested interests, he said.
Mr. Bhatti Vikramarka was speaking at a special meeting of bankers held at Praja Bhavan here on Wednesday. He appreciated the bankers for convening the meeting for extending the help of banking sector to some departments and wanted similar meetings to be convened in future too.
Asserting that the government is committed to the welfare of people, he said initiatives like free bus facility to women under Mahalakshmi scheme are aimed at ensuring that women live a life of dignity. The government is keen that women should come out and become financially empowered by undertaking businesses and hence, benefits under Mahalakshmi were conceived in this direction, he said.
The State Cabinet headed by Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy resolved to provide ₹20,000 crore interest free loans every year to self help groups. Banks, corporate commercial banks in particular, which were charging interest rates up to 13%, should accordingly liberalise rules for financing these groups considering it as social responsibility, he said.
He recalled that recovery of loans sanctioned by banks for private sector is low as compared with those given to SHGs, where recovery rate is 98%, and said banks should provide more loans to SHGs at lower interest rates. The government, on its part, is contemplating to purchase buses and give them on lease to SHGs so that income of these groups would increase, he said.
The Deputy Chief Minister said several programmes are being implemented for financial empowerment of women like setting up of MSME industrial parks in all assembly constituencies. The cooperation of bankers in this direction would go a long way in improving employment opportunities as well as financial status of people in rural areas, he said.
He said that the SHGs are registering business turnover of over ₹12,000 crore, but at the same time, the groups in tribal areas are unable to repay ₹200 crore loans they secured from banks. Banks should therefore consider waiver of these loans or explore options for implementing one time settlement scheme for clearing these loans.
The government, he said, targets to disburse ₹3,000 crore interest free loans to SHGs in Hyderabad and directed the officials concerned to explore ways to enhance the quantum of ₹5,000 crore. The government is keen on promoting Telangana as progressive State and cooperation of banks through expansion of their portfolios would be crucial in this direction, said the Deputy Chief Minister
Published - November 06, 2024 08:34 pm IST
