Financial institutions 'extra activated' to help flood ravaged TN: Jaitley

Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on Sunday said the financial institutions including Insurance companies and banks have been extra activated in order to help the people of the Tamil Nadu including four districts which were severely affected in the recent floods.

"Insurance companies and the banks have to be extra activated inorder to help the people. Today morning we had a meeting with all the insurance companies i.e. LIC and GIC companies, 27 public sector banks, national housing banks and 17 private sector banks, so that in addition to the aid what the Central government and the state government is giving, how these financial institution can help the people," Jaitley said after meeting Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Jayalalithaa at Secretariat here.

"People have to be rehabilitated in terms of their housing, in terms of household articles, in terms of vehicles, crops have been damaged, shops have been damaged, in some cases people need educational loans. These are the various kinds of banking facilities which are available to the people and therefore we have set very high targets with the banks today. Bankers have been told that loan application for soft loan for each one of these should be considered," he added.

Jaitley visited flood-battered Chennai on Sunday to review the damage suffered by the industrial sector. He was accompanied by minister for small and medium enterprises Kalraj Mishra.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi had also visited Chennai in the beginning of this month for an aerial survey of the damage. Prime Minister Modi had announced a Rs 1,000 crore more aid to Tamil Nadu during his visit. He said that the declared amount is over and above the Rs. 940 crores which was released earlier.