By IANS,
Chandigarh : With elections to the Punjab assembly only months away, Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal Tuesday asked state-run banks to extend loans to poor people, and the banks, in turn, have offered to start the exercise from his native village – Badal.
At a meeting with top officers of various nationalised banks, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) and other financial agencies here, Badal urged them to provide easy loan facility to the poor people who do not have ownership records, a spokesman said here.
He said due to non-availability of house or land ownership records, poor people were facing a lot of hardships in securing loans from banks.
He said his government would soon launch a vigorous statewide drive in coordination with various banks to give loans to the poor to start some petty business for their livelihood.
The bankers agreed to circulate instructions to their branches in the state for ensuring easy loan disbursement without any guarantee to the genuine and needy poor persons.
They also agreed to organise the first such loan camp at village Badal next week in coordination with Punjab’s welfare department,