Post offices plan to provide loans
The self-help groups-Post Office Linkage pilot project will be implemented in five blocks of Tiruvarur district, viz. Muthupettai, Koradachery, Thiruthuraipoondi, Tiruvarur and Valangaiman, said Shambu Kallolikar, Tiruvarur Collector, on Saturday.
Inaugurating a two-day training programme on implementation of the scheme for the staff of post offices in the five blocks, he said the scheme was aimed at covering self-help groups in rural areas, which were not covered by banks to get loans.
Now, the post offices would act as banks under the scheme and provide loans to SHGs under the pilot project implemented jointly by National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development and Postal Department.
The Collector said that under the programme, the point of service would be the village and the SHG members would be able to get the service without any hassle and cost effectively.
The success of the programme would depend upon the efforts of the lower level staff in the Postal Department, who had direct contact with the rural people.
A.K.S. Vijayan, Nagapattinam MP, in his special address, expressed happiness over the scheme. He said the very purpose of the scheme was to reach the rural poor people in areas where there were no basic banking facilities.
He was confident that the scheme would succeed with the joint efforts of the NABARD and the Postal Department.
Delivering the presidential address, S.P. Rajalingam, Postmaster-General, Tiruchi, S Dhanasekaran, Project Officer, District Rural Development Agency (DRDA), Tiruvarur, Annamalai Premkumar, Project Officer, Magalir Thittam, Tiruvarur, V. Rajarajan, Director, Postal Training Centre, Madurai, and T. Ramadoss, Lead Bank Manager, Indian Overseas Bank, also spoke.
Sailappan, AGM, and L.M. Thiagrarajan, Manager from NABARD, Tamil Nadu Regional Office, along with S. Subramanian, Faculty Member from Postal Department, guided the participants handling sessions on various aspects of SHG-Post Office Linkage Programme.
Earlier, welcoming the participants, V.A. Raghavan, District Development Manger, NABARD, Tiruvarur, said the project would provide a chance for the Department of Posts to extend better services to rural clientele in the area of micro finance.
