AP govt to waive outstanding loans of weavers

The state government will issue an order in a couple of days waiving the overdue loans of all weavers so as to relieve them of indebtedness. Instructions to this effect were issued by chief minister K Rosaiah on Thursday, according to an official press release.

The government order will cover all outstanding loans of weavers as on March 31, 2010, taken under the Artisan Credit Cards Scheme, Prime Minister Rozgar Yojana (PMRY) and Rajiv Yuva Shakti Yojana (RYS).

The loans will be waived after thorough scrutiny of the claims by the district-level committee (DLC) under the chairmanship of district collectors and approved by the state-level committee (SLC) headed by the director of handlooms and textiles.

A decision to this effect was taken based on the recommendations of a group of  ministers (GoM), which examined the plight of weavers in the state. The waiver is expected to help weavers to come out of the clutches of money lenders and private finance companies. The chief minister said that after careful examination, the government had to accept the recommendations of the GoM. 

The chief minister stated that the financial package would be finalised after duly negotiating with banks for reducing the interest. The banks would also extend fresh loans to the extent of repayment made by each of the handloom weavers whose outstanding loan has been waived.

The GoM also recommended waiver of  bank loans to all the working primary handloom weavers cooperative societies after duly verifying their genuineness and scrutinising the work done by them.

Rosaiah said that the Andhra Pradesh State Cooperative Bank Limited (APCOB) would be made the nodal agency for releasing the amounts to the respective financial institutions. The government will deposit the required money in the APCOB account, which would be adjusted directly to the account of individual societies or members maintained with the financing institutions. 

APCOB and the district cooperative central banks (DCCBs) would sanction fresh cash credit limits to meet working capital requirements of the handloom weavers cooperative societies. The scheme would not apply to the societies under vigilance enquiries pertaining to misappropriation and dormant or defunct societies which are beyond scope of revival.