Minister for Cooperation S T Somashekhar said that 21 District Credit Cooperative (DCC) Banks and Primary Agriculture Cooperative Societies (PACS) in the state have disbursed Rs 16,500 crore loans at zero percent interest to 22 lakh farmers so far in Karnataka.
The Cooperation Department has set aside a target of disbursing Rs 24,000 crore in 2022-23 for 33 lakh farmers and SHGs in the state. All the DCC banks have been directed to reach their target by March end, he told mediapersons after chairing a review meeting at the SCDCC Bank in Mangaluru.
He said that the target was to disburse Rs 2300 crore loan at zero percent interest for the SCDCC Bank and the bank has so far disbursed Rs 2,024 crore loan. The recovery of non-agricultural loans of the SCDCC Bank is 92 % and farm loans are 100 per cent.
'Don’t deny treatment'
The Minister said that the state government has reintroduced Yashasvini health insurance scheme in the state and has set a target to enroll 30 lakh members to it. Already, 33.60 lakh people have been enrolled so far and the last date for enrollment has been extended to February 28.
The state government has enhanced the treatment cost to be reimbursed to the hospitals. Inspite of it, there are complaints against some private hospitals denying treatment to beneficiaries under Yashasvini scheme, he said and warned of consequences for denying treatment. A total of 1348 people have availed the benefit under Yashasvini scheme after it was reintroduced a few months ago in the state.
Common software
A common cooperative software for 6,041 Primary Agricultural Credit Societies (PACS) will be developed in the state at a cost of Rs 191 crore, he said and added that the central government has promised to share 60 per cent of the cost of the development of the software.
The Union government wants to bring in model by-law to govern all PACS across the country. The Kannada translated model by law is ready in Karnataka and will be sent to all the PACS for implementation.
Pending loan waiver
Around 31,000 farmers who are awaiting the benefits of loan waiver of Rs 157 crore that was announced during the tenure of H D Kumaraswamy as Chief Minister, will be released shortly. The cooperation department has already written to the finance department. It was pending as the beneficiaries failed to furnish the details of their ration cards, bank accounts, pahani, Aadhaar and so on, said the Minister.