VV Balakrishna
First Published : 11 Jul 2009 10:54:17 AM IST
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HYDERABAD: Congress MP Manda Jagannadham might have hit national headlines after slapping a bank manager, but the incident has thrown up several questions.
While some of them related to the conduct of the parties involved in the incident, some others go deeper into the issue - the role of bankers
and politicians in disbursal of Government aid and whether the beneficiary is getting crushed between their conflicting interests.
In the incident, shown on TV, Nagarkurnool MP Jagannadham walks up to G Ravinder Reddy, branch manager of AP Grameema Vikas Bank in Uppununthala, and asks him why he has been withholding loans.
He gives his own reasons. They indulge in a heated exchange and Jagannadham, shouting expletives, slaps the manager.
The incident triggered protests by bank employees.
However, the MP justified his action.
With the intervention of bigwigs, including Chief Minister YS Rajasekhara Reddy, both parties finally came to truce but vital questions remain unanswered - Who is taking the money away from banks? Are the Government schemes reaching the actual beneficiaries? In the Uppununthala incident, the MP became furious for the six-month delay in grounding of 10 units sanctioned for SCs. The bank manager, on the other hand, said he had his own reasons and that only a probe would reveal why he had to sit on the applications for five months.
The units have been sanctioned under schemes such as Scheduled Castes Action Plan (SCAP) and Modified Area Development Agency (MADA) aimed at empowering youths. The Government provides 50 percent subsidy for each unit apart from ensuring loan to the beneficiary to cover the remaining investment.
With the issue coming into the open, the bankers now allege that right from sarpanch to MP every politico wants loans to be sanctioned to their followers most of whom are ineligible for the assistance. According to a bank official, three of the 10 units were recommended by the MP but only one was eligible for assistance. One of the applicants does not live in the village where he sought aid nor does he own the electrical shop for which he wanted money.
``The henchmen of politicians feel that they have a right to bank loans and a privilege not to repay them,’’ remarked a rural bank manager indicating how politicians try to usurp benefits for their people.
Nowhere is this misuse more glaring than at Uppununthala itself. The bank records show that of the 226 self-employment units sanctioned in the last 20 years, 80 per cent are either defunct or the loan is overdue.
While the dues have scaled to Rs 32 lakh, the non-performing assets (NPAs) have reached Rs 20 lakh.
This is being cited as the main reason for bankers not meeting targets in implementation of schemes intended for SCs and STs. ``I am not against sanction of loan to a genuine SC beneficiary,’’ Ravinder Reddy said.
To avoid political interference and weed out bogus beneficiaries, selections should be done through Grama Sabhas (village meetings), felt members of a Bank Employees’ Association.
``In some cases, the fault lies with bank staff.
Some managers issue loans indiscriminately to ineligible persons for commissions. Selection of beneficiaries through Grama Sabhas will solve this problem also,’’ said APRR BEA president Ravikanth. Lack of adequate staff was also affecting the functioning of rural banks.
Several branches did not have field supervisors for physical verification of units. Many branches are being run with just a cashier and a manager as recruitment was stopped 20 years ago, he said.
When the State-Level Bankers Committee (SLBC) meets next time to prepare credit plan, the bankers should think of ways to ensure that loans reach genuine beneficiaries.
``The slapgate row should not be viewed as a dispute between two individuals, but as a fallout of a faulty delivery mechanism,’’ a bank manager remarked.
vvbalakrishna@epmltd.com
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