Banks told to adopt cyclone-hit villages

Hyderabad: Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu asked banks on Friday to adopt a village each in Cyclone Hudhud-hit north coastal districts of the state and rebuild them.

“The Chief Minister wanted each bank to adopt one village in Visakhapatnam, Vizianagaram and Srikakulam districts where Cyclone Hudhud caused large scale destruction last month to help rebuild these villages. My bank will adopt a village in Visakhapatnam district for reconstruction,” Andhra Bank Chairman and Managing Director C V R Rajendran announced at the meeting of the AP State-Level Bankers' Committee (SLBC) here on Friday evening.

Rajendran appealed to other banks to follow the suit and use Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) funds for the purpose.

He said a sum of Rs 2.5 crore, which is one day’s salary of all Andhra Bank staffers, has been donated to the AP Chief Minister's Relief Fund as Cyclone Hudhud relief. Rajendran, who is SLBC president, said the AP Chief Minister want banks to ensure insurance claims up to Rs 5 lakh to be settled immediately so that small industrial units could restart business.

For claims above Rs 5 lakh, the AP Chief Minister wants banks to arrange bridge loans to industries and adjust the amounts after insurance money was paid, he said.

According to the Andhra Bank CMD, the AP Chief Minister wants banks to identify those without bank accounts, using the Aadhaar database and open bank accounts under the total financial inclusion programme by January 26.

"About 97 per cent of people in Andhra Pradesh have already been enrolled for Aadhaar. We can identify those whose Aadhaar card is not linked to any bank account and open an account for them, since the AP state government plans to roll out all financial benefits through these accounts. This will help banks wipeout non-performing assets,” Rajendran said.

AP Principal Finance Secretary Ajeya Kallam said a team of Central government officials would tour Cyclone Hudhud-hit districts from November 12 to assess the extent of damage to crops and infrastructure.

“This is an unusual situation where the damage is not limited to the agriculture sector. The damage to industrial sector and infrastructure, particularly in the urban areas including Visakhapatnam is huge. A large number of micro, small and medium enterprises have been hit along with major industries,” he said.

NABARD’s general manager said infrastructure rebuilding in cyclone-hit rural areas could be taken up under the Rural Infrastructure Development Fund Scheme.