Govt to obtain Nabard loans for Muslims

MALDA, Nov. 28: The West Bengal government will be obtaining soft loans from the National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development specifically for the development of the Muslim community. The government has asked the districts to submit schemes based on Rural Infrastructure Development Fund of Nabard for minority development. The Malda district-planning department has informed the matter to the elected bodies concerned at the block level, the sabhadhipati of Malda zilla parishad and MLAs seeking ideas and schemes for the development of minorities in the rural areas. According to the district planning officer, the department has initially estimated Rs 12 crore for the purpose. The department has decided to submit proposals estimating Rs 4 crore in the first phase. “We are in the process and have decided to submit schemes, under the RIDF-XIII, to the government by November,” said Mr Angshuman Adhikary, the district-planning officer. In Malda, nearly 50 per cent people belong to minority community and many of them belong to the BPL category. The Malda district has submitted a total of 300 applications of such minority candidates including women to the state government for sanction of loans with the help of the West Bengal Minority Development and Finance Corporation. The district planning officials hope that they would be able to offer sanctioned letter to the 300 applicants by early 2008. People from the Kaliachak, Sujapur, Ratua, Harishchandrapur and other blocks are mostly from the minority community and have turned into migrant workers and go out of state for livelihood despite the introduction of the 100 days job scheme. The worker exodus reduces during the mango harvesting season but remains high for the rest of the year. SNS