Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, Oct 13: As part of relief and rehabilitation package for the flood affected people of J&K, Union Minister of State Dr Jitender Singh today launched ‘Jammu and Kashmir Special Credit-cum-Relief Camps’ in presence of State Finance Minister Abdul Rahim Rather and others.
These camps have been devised by the Ministry of Finance (GoI) and IBA with complete support from J&K Bank, which is Convenor State Level Bankers’ Committee (SLBC).
Chairman Indian Banks’ Association (IBA) T M Bhasin, J&K Bank Chairman & CEO Mushtaq Ahmad, Principal Secretary to Government B B Vyas, senior functionaries of all the Banks, prominent citizens and a number of flood affected persons in Jammu were present on the occasion.
Speaking on the occasion, Dr Jitender Singh, who holds portfolio of Science & Technology, Earth Science, PMO, Personnel, Public Grievances & Pensions, Space & Atomic Energy, asked the banks to reach out to the people of the State in this hour of crisis and stressed on involving the civil society in relief measures so as to ensure that all the victims are provided relief. He said that there is no dearth of relief but maintains that the need is to reach out to the right persons in right time and in right manner.
Assuring all assistance to the State from the Central Government, he highlighted the main features of the Loans for economic activities and house reconstructions with elongated repayment schedule, concessional rate of interest, and extended moratorium for the flood affected people of Jammu and Kashmir after the launch of the camps.
Exhorting the role of banks in providing assistance to people for rebuilding lives, A R Rather said that banks should reach out to the people and asked for relaxation in norms for hassle free credit facilities and assistance to the people. He thanked the Central Government for providing the requisite relief to the State. He said that the magnitude of devastation was enormous and in spite of the fact that the State machinery was badly affected due to floods, Chief Minister and the State Government mobilized the limited recourses to gear up the relief operations to provide succor to the people.
The Government of J&K is well aware of the magnitude of the losses that the people in Jammu and in Kashmir have suffered due to the floods. We are expediting to bring economy back on wheels as soon as possible, said Mr Rather.
Earlier, Chairman J&K Bank Mushtaq Ahmad thanked IBA, RBI and the Central Government for extending full support in drafting and sanctioning of the package as per the need and sentiments conveyed in the special SLBC meeting by the banking fraternity operating in the State.
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