Minister Zameer Ahmed sets 80 pc loan recovery target for minorities corporation

BENGALURU: Housing and Minorities Welfare Minister Zameer Ahmed Khan had warned that action will be taken against officials who show negligence in the recovery of loans advanced by the Karnataka Minorities Development Corporation (KMDC).

Presiding over a meeting of district managers and recovery officers at KMDC Bhavan here on Tuesday, he reviewed the progress and set a target of 80 percent growth in the current financial year.

The minister instructed the secretary to the department not to transfer the district managers and recovery officers till next March under any pressure and gave a deadline to those who were present to achieve progress in the recovery of loans.

“A total of Rs 892 crore loan has been disbursed by the KMDC towards various schemes in education, industry and self-employment. Are district officers sleeping? Is it your duty to only give loans? If the recovery is between 1 per cent and 10 per cent why is such office staff required? Should they be hired by giving so much salary? Henceforth, such negligence will not be tolerated”, he warned them.

The minister said that in the future, the district managers and the recovery officers must file the monthly progress report. Prizes must be given to the best performers.

Lauding the officials of Udupi, Kodagu, and Chikkamagaluru districts for their excellent performance in the recovery of loans, the minister lashed out at the officials of Ballari, Bidar, Belagavi, Bengaluru Central and Shivamogga districts for their poor performance.

The minister also directed that officers of some districts, who had made good progress in the recovery of loans, have retired and, if there is an opportunity, they should be re-appointed on a contract basis.

During the meeting, he received information from the officials about the progress of the last five years in each district. He also took stock of the problems faced by the loan recovery process.

Corporation officials, including Manoj Jain, Secretary, Department of Minorities, were present.

One-time settlement

The minister said he will discuss with the Chief Minister the implementation of One-time Settlement (OTS) by waiving interest for the effective recovery of loans disbursed by the corporation. More than this, steps must be taken for the effective recovery of loans and all cooperation required to do this would be given by the senior officials, he added.