Releasing another financial assistance of ₹85 crore to bailout the Punjab State Cooperative Agriculture Development Bank Limited, finance and taxation minister Harpal Singh Cheema on Monday said that the Bhagwant Mann-led government has extended aid of ₹798 crore to date, to save the bank.
Cheema said that the bank was stuck in the quagmire of financial crisis due to neglect by the previous governments. The financial assistance of ₹85 crore has been now provided to this cooperative bank so that it could pay the due instalment to NABARD, he said in a statement. He said that in case of non-payment of the due instalment of ₹120.91 crore to NABARD by January 31, the bank would have become a defaulter of NABARD.
The finance minister said the government had provided ₹425 crore on May 26, 2022, to repay the bullet loan of NABARD, ₹100 crore to repay loan instalment due on July 31, 2022, besides providing ₹62.67 crore on April 28 and ₹125.33 crore on September 21, 2022, to pay pension and pension arrears. “The bank has been facing this crisis only because the previous governments did not make sufficient efforts to recover its loans,” he said, appealing to the borrowers to make honest efforts to repay their loans as soon as possible.