Now, loans up to Rs 1L to SCs to be cleared at local level

Tribune News Service

Jalandhar, December 12

The Chairman of the Punjab Scheduled Castes Land Development and Finance Corporation, Mohan Lal Sood, on Thursday said loans worth Rs1 lakh to people belonging to the Schedule Castes community would be approved at the local level.

Sood said the move would facilitate people as loan applications for Rs1 lakh would be decided by a district-level committee headed by the District Welfare Officer, along with a district manager of the Punjab Scheduled Castes Land Development and Finance Corporation. He said that it was being planned to offer Rs550 lakh loan this year in view of the 550th Parkash Purb of Guru Nanak Dev.

Chairing a meeting here at Ambedkar Bhavan, the Chairman said on instructions of Social Welfare Minister Punjab Sadhu Singh Dharamsot, welfare officers of all districts had been asked to prepare lists of all members of the SC community who had taken loans earlier of upto Rs1 lakh. The list would be sent to the Chief Minister for waiving the loans.

He said last year, the government had extended loan waiver to 16,260 people who had an outstanding loan of up to Rs50,000. Thus, an amount of Rs45.41 crore was waived, he said.

The Chairman said such schemes were being brought in to ensure that the lower strata of society also become an active partner in the socio-economic growth of the state and the country.

Earlier, District Welfare Officer Rajinder Singh, District Manager Punjab Scheduled Castes Land Development and Finance Corporation Vijay Kumar, Assistant Managers Manju and Jugal Kishore and other officers welcomed the Chairman.