Chennai, Dec 21: Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley has asked bankers to go “almost on a mission mode” to extend soft loans to people in the flood-affected districts of Tamil Nadu even as Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa urged him to release Rs 2,000 crore for sustaining reconstruction efforts.
Jaitley, in his second meeting with Jayalalithaa this year, held discussions at the Secretariat here for about 45 minutes during which she apprised him of the “calamity of unprecedented magnitude” that ravaged the Chennai, Kancheepuram, Tiruvallur and Cuddalore districts.
“We have set high targets for the banks today,” Jaitley told reporters after his meeting with Jayalalithaa.
There are about 2,600 bank branches in the four affected districts and the bankers have been told that applications for soft loans have to be considered “almost on a mission mode”.
“The eventual target is that almost every legitimate claimant should be entertained. Banks have a sufficient amount of fiscal place for that,” he said, adding that there will be constant review with bankers on the progress by representatives from Delhi,” Jaitley said.
