Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik on Friday wrote a letter to Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley seeking his intervention and advice to the Nabard to sanction Rs 1,300 crore in favour of the Odisha State Cooperative Bank so that farmers are not put into inconvenience in the drought situation prevailing in the State.
“My Government has decided to provide fresh loans to the farmers in the drought-affected areas without recovering the loans advanced during Kharif, 2015. The cooperative banks in the State have been playing a pivotal role in dispensation of crop loans as around 70 per cent of the credit for the purpose is provided by these organisations. Since the resources of the Cooperative Banks are limited, by and large, they depend upon Nabard refinance for the purpose,” the CM’s letter said.
“As I understand, against the programme of Rs 10,000 crore for disbursement of crop loans by the cooperative banks, Nabard has sanctioned a refinance limit of Rs 3,200 crore only. Although the policy of Nabard stipulates that 45% of the crop loans to be provided by the cooperative banks should come as refinance from them to the Odisha State Cooperative Bank, the limit sanctioned falls short of Rs 1,300 crore against eligibility norms stipulated by Nabard. In this connection, the Chief Secretary has already written a letter to the Chairman, Nabard, on November 7, but no response has been received so far,” he said.
As the farmers affected by drought have been sensitised by the State Government to go for cultivation of various crops during the current Rabi season, it is expected that the cooperative banks should provide them with adequate credit for the purpose. Nabard refinance is essentially required to enable the cooperative banks led by the Odisha State Cooperative Bank to cope with the credit requirements of the drought-hit farmers, he added.