Nandyal: To significantly boost the district’s growth rate, bankers must extend complete support to the district administra-tion by ensuring widespread distribution of loans, directed District Collector G Raja Kumari to all bank branch man-agers.

She participated as the chief guest at the District Bank Managers’ orientation workshop held at the PGRS Hall at the Collectorate on Friday.

The event was attended by Joint Collector C Vishnu Charan, Union Bank DGM Surendra Goud, SBI Regional Manager Surya Prakash, Andhra Pragathi Grameena Bank Regional Manager Venkataramana, District Cooperative Bank DGM Uma Maheshwara Reddy, senior marketing of-ficer Kiran Prabhu, lead district manager Ravindra Kumar, along with all bank branch managers and senior district of-ficials.

Speaking on the occasion, District Collector G Rajakumari emphasised that bankers play a crucial role in accelerating district growth by prioritising loans for primary sectors such as agriculture, allied industries, tourism and infrastructure development in economically weaker section colonies

She pointed out that, like coastal regions, Nandyal district has fertile lands where three crops can be cultivated an-nually. She urged bankers to contribute to poverty alleviation by providing loans to all government sector units as per the designated targets, setting aside personal inter-ests. She highlighted that in the Krishna River basin near Sangameshwaram, farmers cultivate crops in 5.97 lakh acres of irrigated land. Bankers should ensure timely disbursement of crop loans without delay. The Chief Minister is working on linking Godavari waters to the Krishna river to bring prosperity to the Rayalaseema region. Bankers should support agricultural allied industries and help with value addition, branding and marketing.

The District Collector noted that the district’s soil is highly suitable for commercial crops like yellow dates, avocado, oil palm, aromatic bananas and dragon fruit. Bankers should encourage farmers cultivating these crops. They should also provide financial support for high-profit, low-investment crops and sustainable agricultural practices.

She pointed out that around 70,000 hectares of land re-mains fallow after a single crop cycle. Bankers should extend loans to facilitate additional cultivation. The district has 129 minor irrigation tanks, which should be utilised to rear up to one crore fish, with financial assistance from banks.

She also urged bankers to provide loans to dairy farmers for purchasing high-yield buffaloes. The district has 48 Chenchu tribal hamlets with around 10,000 tribal resi-dents. Under the PM Janman scheme, agencies should step forward to construct 527 houses for them, with banks providing financial support.

Similarly, loans should be extended to all eligible benefi-ciaries who have applied under the PM Surya Ghar scheme. Bankers should also assist in developing the tour-ism sector by integrating 21 religious sites within the dis-trict.

Joint Collector C Vishnu Charan emphasised that bankers and district officials should work in coordination to achieve the assigned targets. A lack of coordination could not only harm beneficiaries but also slow down the national growth rate.

Following this, officials from agriculture, allied industries, and welfare departments briefed bankers on government targets and guidelines.