KURNOOL: The district administration has prepared a financial package to bail out families from the clutches of moneylenders. In all 2,770 families in 22 villages will be covered with an outlay of Rs 11 crores.

Before grounding the project under the DRDA programme, a comprehensive survey was conducted recording all financial needs of each family including debts and social spending. The needs of each family ranged Rs. 20,000 to Rs. 50,000. On the other hand, the traditional bank linkage through self-group groups ensured only Rs. 5,000 to Rs. 10,000 per family leaving a huge gap in the financial needs.

DRDA project director Wilsonbabu said the study revealed that the financial support given through SHG network was going towards debt service and no money was left with the families to take up income generation activity.

The debt burden was Rs 5.36 crores for 2,700 odd families. The DRDA would arrange the entire amount for swapping of debt. Another important financial requirement was social spending wherein the families needed a huge amount to celebrate weddings and other functions.

Interest rate

Around Rs. 45 lakhs was indicated as the amount needed to meet social spending. Some amount was set aside for education of the children too. In all, 22 bank branches would support and coordinate the programme. The entire amount would be lent to the members at four per cent rate of interest. Mr. Wilsonbabu said after grounding the programme, no beneficiary should borrow any amount from private lenders and should find considerable amount as working capital for their activity.

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