Team Herald
PANJIM: Following a poor response from mining loan borrowers, the State government has decided not to extend the One Time Settlement (OTS) scheme any further. This will allow banks and financial institutions to freeze the assets of the borrowers to recover the dues.
The scheme that aimed to provide debt relief to truck and barge owners dependent on the iron ore mining industry was introduced in September 2014 and the deadline extended thrice. The third deadline ends on March 31
With just two days left for the scheme to lapse, Chief Minister Laxmikant Parsekar on Tuesday reviewed the scheme with banks and financial institutions to decide whether to extend it.
“We have decided not to grant any further extension to the scheme, as there is lack of response from the mining dependent people. We have already extended the scheme thrice,” Parsekar told Herald after the meeting.
“The banks are now free to freeze the assets to recover their pending dues,” the Chief Minister said adding that the government and financial institutions were lenient towards the mining loan borrowers but the response was very poor.
“Since the last extension granted in November, there were literally no applications coming in from the affected parties. They have two days to apply, which would be considered,” he added. Under the scheme, till date, 3978 applications have been sanctioned with subsidy of Rs 80 crore.
The government also expressed concern over the increasing non-performing assets (NPAs) in the mining-related sector for the banks, leading to losses. “Also iron ore activities have commenced and will pick up in the coming season,” Parsekar said.
The OTS scheme first lapsed in March 2015 and was extended by six months up to September 4. It was then extended to December and later again up to March 31, this year.
Under the debt relief scheme, a subsidy up to 35 per cent on the total loan settlement amount is provided. Banks and financial institutions are granting 100 per cent loan interest waiver from September 2012 and 40 percent waiver on the principal loan amount for truck owners and 30 per cent to barge owners.
