Chief Minister Biplab Kumar Deb has on Friday made it clear that no guarantor would be required for taking loans under Swabhalamban and Prime Minister’s Employment Generation Programme (PMEGP) as described in Atmanirbhar Bharat Yojana.
He was addressing a programme on Interaction with self-employed beneficiaries under State Component of Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Vikas Yojana at Agartala Town Hall.
He said, “In some cases, the banks were harassing the people seeking loans for guarantors and other excuses. I personally spoke on the issue during SLBC meets multiple times– UBI was the lead bank and people were still facing the same problem.”
“Finally, Punjab National Bank, now the lead bank in Tripura, has asked all the banks not to insist anybody for collateral security while seeking loans under PMEGP and Swavalamban schemes,” the Chief Minister said adding that the banks provided loans of Rs. 1600 crore in 2017-18, Rs. 1990 crore in 2018-19 and Rs. 2804 crore in 2019-20 in MSME sector.
The Chief Minister in his speech said a target has been fixed for setting up of 2500 new fruit processing units under Atmanirbhar Bharat Yojana across the state in next five years. Such units would generate huge income opportunities, he said.
The Chief Minster also said the state government is emphasizing on bee keeping. The state government has already sent a project of Rs. 62 crore to centre through Khadi Gramudyog to assist around 16,000 beneficiaries for bee keeping, he said. Deb said that 630 youths were given skill development training in 2017-18, 13000 in 2018-19 and 8000 in 2019-20. After being trained, total 6594 persons got source of income in various trades. Among them, 3925 persons got earning scopes in major fields of skill development like textiles, electronics and hardware, tailoring, food processing, handicrafts and carpet, beauty parlour and driving, he added.
In the programme, the Chief Minster had interactions with the beneficiaries and took their views. Besides, the beneficiaries have also shared their experience. TIDC Chairman Tinku Roy, Secretary to Industries and Commerce department Kiran Gitte, and Director of Skill Development Tapas Roy were also present in the programme.
