Bhubaneswar, Dec 14 (IANS) Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik on Wednesday requested Prime Minister Narendra Modi to lift restrictions imposed on agricultural credit societies so that they can cater to the credit requirements of farmers facing difficulties due to demonetisation.
"The restriction imposed on Primary Agriculture Cooperative Societies (PACS) to draw Rs 24,000 per week may be lifted so that these organisations can cater to the credit requirements of their farmer members," said the Chief Minister in a letter to Modi.
Due to the restriction, the PACS are unable to cater to the demand for crop loans, procurement proceeds and insurance claims pertaining to kharif 2015, said Patnaik, seeking adequate currency may be made available to the District Central Cooperative Banks (DCCBs) by the currency chest branches of the commercial banks and this should be monitored by the Reserve Bank of India's Regional Office.
This will enable the DCCBs to provide crop loans to the farmer members and also to pay their paddy procurement proceeds as well as insurance claims, he added.
"Consequent upon demonetisation of high value notes and the restriction on DCCBs to accept the SBN as deposits and for exchange of such notes, the DCCBs are facing a severe liquidity crunch," said the Chief Minister.
Besides, the currency chest branches of the commercial banks are not able to provide currency to the DCCBs to cope with the demands of the farm families at the PACS level for their Rabi operations, he added.
"We are finding it difficult to transfer the procurement price of paddy from the Apex State Co-operative bank account to the farmer's account held in different nationalised banks, co-operative banks and RRBs, if it is a Jan Dhan account. Such transfers were rejected in many cases causing enormous hardship to the farmers," said Patnaik.
