Devendra Fadnavis says banks must consider disbursal of crop loans for Maharashtra farmers as 'national duty'

Mumbai: Banks should consider disbursal of crop loans to farmers as a national duty and show sensitivity while doing it, Maharashtra chief minister Devendra Fadnavis on Wednesday said. The chief minister was speaking at a meeting of senior officers of various banks at the Mantralaya. The kharif sowing season has started, and farmers need money to buy seeds and fertilisers, so they should be given crop loans within the stipulated period, he said. “Banks should consider it their national duty and be sensitive while doing it,” he said. Rural branch officials often do not show sensitivity which irks farmers, the chief minister said. [caption id=“attachment_4355751” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  File image of Maharashtra chief minister Devendra Fadnavis. PTI[/caption] All banks should order their rural branches to disburse crop loans as soon as possible, he said. Taking a review of the Hybrid Annuity road construction in the meeting, Fadnavis asked banks to help in the “national construction”. Ten thousand kilometres of roads under the Hybrid Annuity Model are to be constructed in Mumbai, Pune, Nashik, Aurangabad, Amravati and Nagpur divisions through 177 projects, he said. “Finalisation of tenders is in the last stage and the construction will begin from 15 July,” the chief minister said. Tenders of 4,539 kilometres of roads have been finalised and all the construction work has to be completed by May 2019, he said. Banks should give loans to private contractors for these projects so that construction works are completed on time, he said. Under the Hybrid Annuity Model, government bears a part of the project cost and gives it to the contractor at the start. The rest of the money comes from the contractor, who gets annuity payments for a particular period once the project is completed.