Faced with a dwindling demand for industrial credit and difficulty in recovering loans from small-scale units, banks are turning to self-help groups.
The chances of loan recovery in these cases are almost 100 per cent, says J P Verma, general manager, State Bank of India (Chandigarh Circle).
Verma said the self-help group movement was started in the Chandigarh Circle, which comprised Punjab, Haryana, Himachal Prad-esh, Jammu and Kashmir and Chandigarh, in 2000.
Since then the State Bank of India had financed more than 750 self-help groups with a total outlay of Rs 5.57 crore.
Verma said 578 self-help groups were run by women.
He said non-performing assets (NPA) were almost negligible in the case of financing self-help groups. The bank had set a target of financing 1,000 such groups by the end of 2003, he added.
Since a self-help group member could be a future client, banks looked at them as a major source of business, Verma said.
Even disabled persons could seek assistance under this scheme, he added.
P Satish, general manager, the National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (Nabard), Chan-digarh, said 50 per cent of the resource mobilised under the self-help group programme could be attributed to Andhra Pradesh.
However, it was still in initial stages in the Chandigarh Circle, he added.
Verma said social and economic indicators on the plight of women in Punjab and Haryana reflected that there was an immediate need to provide an impetus to the self-help group movement in the region.
The role of Nabard was crucial because the ground work was done by it, Verma added.
New pollution norms
The Pollution Control Board of Haryana has decided to grant consent to polluting industrial units for two to five years. So far, the board had been granting consent for one year only.
According to sources, units can now apply for consent through a common application under the Water and Air Acts and the Hazardous Waste (Management and Handling) Rules.
Highly-polluting units in 17 categories could now apply for consent for two years, and less polluting industries for five years, said a state government official.
The board had decided to process applications received by March 31 under the extension scheme and consent would be granted automatically on the basis of the previous records, he said.
Industries applying for consent after the due date would have to deposit the sampling fee for three samples instead of one and would be subjected to three monitoring samples during the year in addition to penal action, he added.
Action would be initiated against polluting industries operating without the proper authorisation. As per the provisions of the environmental laws, it would result into imprisonment for five years or a Rs 1 lakh fine.
The board would organise camps to address the grievances of industrial units, he added.
