CS chairs SLBC meeting in Doon
Garhwal Post Bureau
Dehradun, 12 Nov: Chief Secretary Anand Bardhan today directed banks operating in Uttarakhand to strengthen measures for preventing cyber-crimes, improve the state’s credit-deposit (CD) ratio and ensure effective implementation of various government-sponsored loan schemes. He issued these directions while chairing the 98th meeting of the State Level Bankers’ Committee (SLBC) at the Secretariat.
Bardhan instructed all the banks to ensure appropriate representation at the next SLBC meeting in accordance with the guidelines of the Department of Financial Services. He also said that the next review would be conducted through an online portal to enable real-time monitoring and assessment.
Emphasising the need for prompt action against cyber fraud, the CS directed major banks to deploy their representatives at the 1930 Cyber Helpline Centres and the State Cyber Crime Coordination Centre (S4C) within the next 15 days. Other banks were asked to nominate nodal officers for the swift disposal of cyber-crime-related cases and better coordination. He also directed banks to ensure full compliance with Supreme Court guidelines on cyber-crime-related matters.
Expressing concern over the state’s credit-deposit ratio, Bardhan said focused efforts are required to improve the indicator. He directed that district-level bankers’ committees prepare special action plans for four to five districts with the lowest CD ratios. He also called for a comparative presentation of Uttarakhand’s CD ratio with those of other Himalayan states at the next SLBC meeting.
The CS also stressed on the need for regular monitoring of government-sponsored loan schemes aimed at employment generation and directed banks and departments to ensure that eligible beneficiaries receive timely assistance. He said pending loan applications should be disposed of expeditiously and efforts should be made to achieve current financial year targets by the first week of January, keeping in view the possibility of the Model Code of Conduct coming into force.
Bardhan directed a detailed analysis of education loans granted over the last five years to assess application trends, approvals, rejections and pending cases so that the loan approval process can be made more accessible and efficient.
He also emphasised strengthening the Business Correspondent (Bank Mitra) network in rural and remote areas through Common Service Centres and further directed banks and departments to work in saturation mode to ensure maximum coverage under schemes such as PM Jan Dhan Yojana, PM Jeevan Jyoti Bima Yojana, PM Suraksha Bima Yojana and Atal Pension Yojana through special enrolment drives.
Among those present at the meeting were Principal Secretaries RK Sudhanshu and R Meenakshi Sundaram, Secretaries Dilip Jawalkar and Sridhar Babu Addanki, RBI Regional Director Harsh Kumar Gautam, NABARD General Manager Shashi Kumar, Industries Association of Uttarakhand president Pankaj Gupta, senior officials from various departments and representatives of banks.
