Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan (file)
| Photo Credit: KAMAL KISHORE
Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan on Monday (August 19, 2024) urged banks to write off loans availed by the victims and the survivors of the devastating July 30 landslides in Wayanad.
Addressing a meeting of the State Level Bankers’ Committee (SLBC) specially convened here in the wake of the catastrophe, Mr. Vijayan said giving the survivors more time to pay up or waiving off the interest on the loan amount will not work in the Wayanad situation.
Many of the people who have availed the loans are dead and the land has been rendered unusable. Writing off the quantum of loans from the affected region was the only practical solution, he said.
Moreover, since the loans in question constitute a mere fraction of the total transactions of the banks, the banks can easily afford it, he said.
“While the magnitude of the disaster is huge, the affected region is a small one. The survivors are in a situation where they cannot make the repayment,” he said.
Mr. Vijayan also asked the banks not to demand the government to meet the loan commitments in lieu of a write-off.
Kerala Bank example cited
Mr. Vijayan further urged the banks to follow the example of Kerala Bank which had decided to write off loans taken by the victims and survivors.
Meanwhile, Mr. Vijayan also advised banks not to act mechanically in such situations, commenting on the row over the Kerala Gramin Bank deducting monthly instalments on loans from the accounts of landslide survivors in Chooralmala in Wayanad. The amount was deducted reportedly after the State government deposited a small amount in the survivors’ accounts as preliminary aid.
Commenting on this development, Mr. Vijayan said that “in such situations, we should not behave in a mechanical manner.”
