Strict action will be taken on intermediaries promising to get loans under the Kisan Credit Card (KCC) scheme for fishers.
The Fisheries Department is taking a serious view on the issue of people collecting forms and promising large sums of money as loan.
“The application forms are free of cost and fishers need not pay anything for it. I am hearing that some people are promising loans of up to ₹3 lakh for all categories. If we get complaints, we will take action,” said Fisheries Minister D. Jayakumar.
He added that all categories of fisherfolk, including fish and dry fish vendors, can avail of loans without surety. If they repay within a year, the interest would be only 4%. So far, 45,000 applications had been collected from fishers across the State and submitted to banks. The department had set a target of 75,000 forms.
Though it has been several months since the entire KCC process began, so far ₹80 lakh worth loans have been disbursed. “We are continuously putting pressure on the banks to release more loans since it would help infuse funding into the sector,” said an official.
A former official said that nationalised banks were not showing interest in the scheme. “They have just kept aside the forms saying they have no staff,” he said.
