Hundreds of proposals sponsored by different Panchayat Samities of Nuapada district to the banks for sanction of loans under Differential rate of Interest (DRI) scheme to the physically-handicapped persons for gainful occupation are pending with the banks.
The sponsoring authority said that the applicants need the financial support for sustaining their livelihood, but the banks do not see loan-worthiness within the sponsored applicants.
According to the banks, most of the applicants sponsored by blocks are assetless and they have no repayment capacity. Thus, out of 245 applications sponsored by five blocks and three NACs of Nuapada district during 2015-16 financial year, only 59 (24 per cent) have been sanctioned. Rest of the applications has not been entertained on various grounds.
Khariar block sponsored 54 proposals under the scheme during the year, including 17 to the SBI, Tukula branch, 11 to the BOI (Bank of India), Khariar branch and 26 to the Duajhar branch of UGB (Utkal Gramya Bank). Only one proposal has been sanctioned by the Khariar branch of the BOI.
“The banks are not honouring the proposals of the block offices on different grounds. They have not sanctioned a single proposal in the previous two years too,” said Khariar block SEO Prafulla Naik.
The banks have not even responded to the query of the blocks about the ground of delay in writing. “When we ask them, they say that, most of the proposals are not feasible,” added Naik. The UGB is not acting on the applications because they are not empanelled by the Government for dealing with DRI scheme. Thus the service areas of the UGB completely remain untouched by other branches empanelled for the scheme. The Khariar branch of SBI has rejected some applications falling under the service area of UGB.
The situation is the same in all other blocks of the district. The Sinapali block has sponsored 51 applications to Singjhar and Sinapali branches of SBI out of which 10 have been sanctioned with financial assistance of Rs 15,000 each. The Singjhar branch which is located in a remote pocket of the block has not sanctioned a single application out of 11 sponsored.
Only eight applications out of 62 have been sanctioned by Karlakot (6 applications) and Boden (2 applications) branches of SBI in Boden block. Karlakot branch has sanctioned Rs15, 000 to each applicant and in the service area of Boden the applicants have received Rs20,000 each. In Komna block, the achievement is nil - not a single application has been sanctioned by the SBI out of the 15 sponsored. likewise, the SBI branch of Khariar Road has not sanctioned a single one out of five sponsored. Nuapada block is a little ahead of others, the achievement being 58 per cent of the total sponsored (43 applications). “I have given an ultimatum to the SBI, Komna to finalise the applications before 28 of this month. We have decided to withdraw our deposits from the SBI, if they did not take positive action on the applications,” said Komna BDO Mrutyunjaya Panda.
The DRI scheme is meant for lending financial support to Physically Handicapped persons at a concessional rate of interest, i.e. @ 4 per cent per annum for productive/self-employment ventures.
The banks are required to lend under the scheme, at least one per cent of their aggregate advances as at the end of the previous year.
Two thirds of the total DRI advances must be routed through the banks’ rural and semi-urban branches. “But unfortunately, the banks are not taking up this social responsibility,” said the SEO of Khariar.