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Cooperative association refutes NABARD official's allegations

Staff Reporter

Plans dharna in front of NABARD office on Tuesday

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Kerala Primary Cooperative Societies Association general secretary V. Karunan Master has criticised the outgoing NABARD Chief General Manager B.S. Shekhawat for "spreading wrong reports" about the cooperative banks in the State.

In a statement here on Saturday, Mr. Karunan Master refuted the allegations of Mr. Shekhawat that NABARD had denied refinance to the cooperative banks in Kerala because of the failure of those banks and of the Kerala Government.

Referring to the charges of Mr. Shekhawat that the cooperative banks in Kerala failed to make use of the refinance facilities of NABARD, he said the State Cooperative Bank had submitted a Rs.735-crore refinance proposal to NABARD for the short-term agricultural loans from the cooperative sector in the State during 2006-'07.

Even though NABARD had initially agreed to sanction Rs.650 crore for the scheme, it had actually released only Rs.124.79 crore for agricultural refinance in the year. NABARD rejected applications of the district cooperative banks in Palakkad, Ernakulam and Kottayam on some "feeble technical grounds" even though they were top rankers in terms of disbursement of the agricultural loans, he alleged.

The cooperative banks in the State had so far disbursed agricultural loans to the tune of Rs.2,000 crore even without the help of NABARD. This year itself nearly Rs.600 crore was disbursed as loan till March 31 at interest rates ranging between 5.5 per cent and 6 per cent, as per the decision of the new Government.

NABARD sanctioned only Rs.6 crore as agricultural loan refinance to the State in 2002-'03 when the loan limit was Rs.105 crore. In 2003-'04, NABARD sanctioned only Rs.14 crore when the State had demanded Rs.149 crore. In 2004-05, the State could get only Rs.93 crore from NABARD when the limit was Rs.423 crore, while in the succeeding year the sanctioned amount was only Rs.200 crore when the limit was Rs.560 crore. In the just-concluded financial year NABARD sanctioned only Rs.124 crore to the State when the loan limit was Rs.982 crores, Mr. Karunan Master said.

All these data showed NABARD was depriving the State of its due refinance facilities, while Mr. Shekhawat was spreading wrong reports about the cooperative sector and Government in the State, he alleged.

Mr. Karunan Master said the Association would be holding a demonstration and dharna in front of the NABARD office in Thiruvananthapuram on April 17 to protest against the statements of Mr. Shekhawat.

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