Rajamahendravaram : East Godavari District Collector P Prasanthi expressed dissatisfaction with the performance of banks in achieving their set targets and questioned the effectiveness of holding District Consultative Committee (DCC) meetings every three months if banks fail to meet their goals.

She made these remarks during the fourth-quarter review meeting of the District Consultative Committee (DCC) and the District Level Review Committee for the 2024-25 financial year, held at the Collectorate on Friday evening.

The Collector emphasised that applications for units under BC Corporation, OBC Corporation, Kapu Corporation, SC Corporation and Minority Corporation should be completed by March 22. She directed that the scrutiny and loan sanctioning process should be finalised by April 7, with the grounding of units to be completed by April 11, marking the birth anniversary of Jyotirao Phule.

She urged banks to take all necessary steps to ensure that the targeted number of units are set up. She stated that the State government has a clear policy on loan sanctioning for tenant farmers and banks must respond appropriately in line with this policy.

Expressing her displeasure over the slow progress, she remarked that holding quarterly meetings with bankers serves no purpose if the set targets are not met and added that a report on the banks’ performance would be submitted to the State-Level Bankers’ Committee.

The Collector strongly criticised the responses given by Bank of India senior officer Lakshman Rao and Indian Bank representatives, expressing severe dissatisfaction with their explanations. She outlined specific targets for various unit categories, including self-employment units under BC Corporation, Kapu Corporation, EWS Corporation, Scheduled Caste Cooperative Society and Minority Corporation, and urged banks to take a proactive approach in facilitating the setup of these units through a simplified process.

She warned that if banks fail to improve their performance, loan allocations could be diverted to more efficient banks, including public sector banks.

According to the annual plan for 2024-25, loans were provided to 15,469 tenant farmers by the third quarter. However, out of Rs 320 crore loan target for the current financial year, only Rs 148 crore had been disbursed.

Regarding Pashu Kisan Cards, the Collector pointed out that out of 12,871 applications, only 6,695 were received by banks and approval was granted to just 1,116, leaving 5,060 applications pending. She directed banks to provide explanations for the delays and ensure that pending applications are processed at the earliest. The meeting was attended by DCC convenor and DGM A Visveswara Rao, NABARD AGM YS Naidu, District Revenue Officer T Seetharama Murthy, LDM DV Prasad, district officials and bank representatives.