|
|
|
|
Fresh life
It is significant, though in a small way that fresh life has been injected into the Manipur State Co-operative Bank which has been lying dormant for the last 2/3 years, thanks to its poor loan recovery rate and faulty policies while giving out loans. Significant in the sense that the report that the State Co-operative Bank is once again pulsating with fresh life has come in amidst other reports that the Government is seriously contemplating shutting down some of the 13 sick Public Sector Units blacklisted by the erstwhile PR regime.
It is certainly good tidings that public confidence in the Co-operative Bank appears to have been restored as public deposit with the bank has touched the Rs 16 crore mark. However this is not the be all and end all of the story. That the bank could manage to come out of the doldrums only after the State Government stepped in and managed to clear off the Rs 16 crores due owed to NABARD tells many a story and it remains to be seen how the bank goes about recovering the Rs 25 crores from defaulters.
Poor loan recovery and indiscriminate allotment of loans to the public have been the bane of a number of corporations in the State and it is our fervent hope and wishes that the Manipur State Co-operative Bank has learnt a lesson or two from its past experience and will not travel down the same suicidal route again. Tough times call for tough decision and it would not be out of place at all to suggest that the bank comes down with a heavy hand on the defaulters and somehow recover the outstanding loans. Responsibilities may also be fixed if any discrepancies are found while awarding the loans to the loanees.
Set up in 1958 with the primary aim of providing financial aid to farmers and the working class, the Manipur State Co-operative Bank has seen its days of success and failure. The fresh leash of life given to the bank is the opportune moment for the bank management to ensure that the bank is run and managed professionally with no room for mediocrity.
The first litmus, test will be how the bank goes about providing aid and loans to farmers and others with the Rs 1 crore grant it has received from NABARD this year. We fervently hope the earlier mistakes are not committed and the loans are given, not only to the needy but also to the deserving candidates. What everyone should remember is that the bank is here to extend a helping hand to the enterprising people who will plough the aid provided by the bank into something worthwhile.
People of Manipur in general should also wake up to the fact that loans are loans and it should be paid back within the clause of the agreement reached with the financing body. As it is, the State is already burdened by huge overdrafts and the burden of unpaid loans should not be added to the State Government. The State as a whole suffers when loans are not paid back by the loanees and the responsibility of ensuring that loans are paid-back starts from the moment the financing body begins the process of identifying or drawing up the list of the loanees. All it calls for is a little professionalism and yes sincerity. Under no circumstances loans should be granted to the highest bidder.
(Courtesy: The
Sangai Express)
|
| |
|
|
Welcome! 
International
Features
