Hyderabad: Finance minister Etela Rajender on Thursday asked bankers to address cash crunch issue on a war-footing. The minister took part in the State-Level Bankers’ Committee (SLBC) meeting here which was attended by the officials of all public sector banks.
Mr Rajender said the plight of the people in semi-urban and rural areas is even more pathetic with no cash in ATMs and banks. He said that during his frequent visits to the districts on official tours, the major complaint that was received was about lack of cash in banks and ATMs due to which farmers, beneficiaries of various government welfare schemes, NREGA labourers were facing severe hardships.
However, the bankers informed the Minister that the situation would come back to normalcy within a week with increased supplies from the RBI. The bankers said that they would restore 70 per cent ATMs within a week and half of the ATMs have already become operational. The cash in ATMs is also being filled twice in a day to meet the demand.
Etela asked the bankers to keep adequate cash available in rural areas since the government is going to start the distribution of Rs 4,000 per acre sop for Kharif season from May 10 to over 58 lakh farmers.
He asked the bankers to collect uniform charges from farmers while clearing cheque in all the banks. Stating that 62 per cent, who are receiving the benefit, were small and marginal farmers, the minister asked bankers to assist them in availing the sop without any trouble. He also asked the bankers to meet 100 per cent targets for disbursal of crop loans for the ensuing kharif season.
