 "Demonetisation: Farmers finding it tough to repay crop loans, Odisha CM to PM")
With the prevailing restriction on district central cooperative banks (DCCBs) for exchanging old currency, such banks are facing a severe liquidity crunch, chief minister Naveen Patnaik said this in a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
The currency chest branches of commercial banks are unable to provide currency notes to DCCBs to cope with demands of farm families at PACS (Primary Agricultural Cooperative Societies) level for their Rabi operations.
Moreover, PACS are treated at par with individuals in respect of withdrawal of funds from their accounts with DCCBs to meet the credit requirement of their farmer members. Consequently, they are unable to cater to the demand for crop loans, procurement proceeds and insurance claims pertaining to Kharif 2015.
"We are finding it difficult to transfer the procurement price of paddy from the apex state cooperative bank account to the farmers' accounts held in different nationalised banks, cooperative banks and RRBs (regional rural banks) if it is a Jan Dhan account. Such transfers were rejected in many cases causing enormous hardship to the farmers", Patnaik stated in the letter.
He has sought availability of adequate currency notes with the DCCBs by currency chest branches of commercial banks. Also, the limit imposed on credit withdrawals by PACS can be lifted so that such organisations can cater to the credit requirement of their farmer members, he said.