The Government may have decided to forgo the old system of liquor sale in the State and jump directly into running the shops, the affair is getting murkier with every passing day. Excise and Prohibition Department, since the change of guard has happened, is fighting with plenty of cash in hand and has sought help from the banks.
Revealing the problem of plenty, Excise Secretary Avinash Kumar called upon the banks and Government to sit together and look for the solution as early as possible. “As you all know the Jharkhand State Beverages Corporation limited is operating 375-odd retail liquor shops in the State. Sale to the tune of Rs 25000 to Rs 7 lakh is reported from a single liquor shop which is getting accumulated into Rs 3 crore daily from all across the State. Handling such a huge amount is turning big headache for us,” said the official while calling upon the bankers to assist in cash handling.
The Department had in this connection approached the banks with not so encouraging response so far. Banks were proposed to handle the cash like they do with their ATMs through cash management agencies. Districts like Jamshedpur, Ranchi, Bokaro and Hazaribagh have greater number of shops followed by Dhanbad, Palamu, Giridih etc.
“Presently we have deployed our own men to deposit cash in banks branches. But since greater part of the cash is generated in non-banking hours, we are finding it tough to handle the money. The system operational in banks can do that and keep the cash in nights to be deposited in banks next day. Some offers had come from the banks but charges they are quoting are exorbitantly high which is not acceptable to us. The Department likes that the banks come up with viable offer in this regard,” said Avinash Kumar addressing in 60th SlBC meeting on Monday.
Another grievance came from Agriculture Secretary Pooja Singhal who cautioned the bankers against forceful farm loan recovery. “You should take an initiative in spreading the message among farmers that no forceful loan recovery is underway. Also, we came across cases where farmers tend to use farm loan for non-farm activities like purchasing mobile etc. Such unproductive acts put them under duress often resulting into suicides,” said the Agriculture Secretary.
She at the same time underlined mismatch between growing number of farmers covered under Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojya and number of loanees. “8 lakh farmers got covered under PMFBY last year of which about 40000 were loanees. This year we have inducted 15 lakh farmers under the scheme and still number of loanees is just one lakh or 10 per cent of total coverage. We have to ponder how to raise the number,” said Singhal to the SlBC members.
She also expressed concern over lowering term loan given to agriculture and allied activities like fishery, dairy or poultry which is a discouraging indication keeping the target to double farmers’ income by 2022 into mind. Joint Secretary with Department of Financial Services Madanesh Mishra also told banks to raise priority sector advances which have grown at the rate of just one per cent on year to year basis. CD ratio of the banks has also seen a decreasing trend with only 57.04 per cent.