Grant soft loans to flood victims: Finance Minister

Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on Sunday met Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa at the Secretariat and held discussions about the flood rehabilitation efforts in the state. The CM sought an additional Rs 2,000 crore to enable the state government to sustain restoration operations, adding that the government was preparing a detailed supplementary estimate.

A total of 176 loss estimate centres have been set up in the four flood ravaged districts of Chennai, Kancheepuram, Cuddalore and Tiruvallur while LIC and insurance companies have been instructed to expedite damage and loss estimates, Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said, during his visit to Chennai. The crucial GST Bill, which is stuck in the Parliament, did not figure in the meeting with the CM.

Speaking at another function set up by a consortium of banks and insurance companies to provide relief to the affected, he said banks had been instructed to provide loans quickly so that the affected can rebuild their lives. He said banks have been instructed to release loans within a month. 

As the number of insured in India was limited, he said awareness should be created so that people understood that such insurance schemes would help them in times of calamity. He added that the central and state governments would take efforts to ensure that the living standards of people after the disbursal of the loans are comparatively better than that earlier. 

During his trip to Chennai, loans totalling Rs 48.23 crores was disbursed to totally 1,377 beneficiaries by the minister. Speaking to the press, the minister said 2,600 bank branches in the flood ravaged districts would set high targets to meet the loan requirement of those affected in the rain-hit districts. The progress on sanctioning of loans would be reviewed regularly by officials from Delhi, he added.