MP: Civic staff dump garbage outside banks over loan 'delay'

The banks might have dumped it themselves,Sharma claimed.He also said banks are not clearing the proposals.Only one-third of 1,800 cases of loan were cleared.The banks are not clearing the loan disbursal proposals in theentire district, he claimed.The garbage was dumped outside branches of the StateBank of India SBI, the Central Bank of India, the MadhyaPradesh Grameen Bank and the ICICI Bank in Begumganj.SBI branch manager Pratap Singh told PTI that 333 outof 350 cases of loan for street vendors were cleared earlier.Now, a target of 350 more cases has been given.

Sanitary workers of a local civic body have dumped garbage outside some banks here in MadhyaPradesh over alleged delay in disbursal of loans to street vendors, officials said on Tuesday.

The garbage was dumped on Monday at the entry gates offour banks here on the alleged directives of Chief MunicipalOfficer of Begumganj, located about 80 km from the Raisendistrict headquarters, they said.

After initially accepting that the step was taken as the banks were delaying loan disbursal to street vendors, Chief Municipal Officer Dheeraj Sharma on Tuesday denied his involvement.

On Monday, when asked about the dumping of garbage, Sharma told reporters that they had sent proposals to some banks for loan disbursal to street vendors under the PradhanMantri SVANidhi Yojana, but the banks were ''careless'' about it.

''On the other hand, the collector scolds us for not achieving the target. We have been making efforts for a long time and then took this step,'' Sharma said on Monday.

Under the scheme, street vendors are given a loan of 10,000.

After controversy erupted over the incident, Sharma, talking to PTI on Tuesday, denied his involvement and claimed the garbage was removed as soon as they received information about it.

''I was in a meeting with the district collector on Monday. I didn't order the dumping. The garbage was removed immediately. The banks might have dumped it themselves,'' Sharma claimed.

He also said banks are not clearing the proposals.

''Only one-third of 1,800 cases (of the loan) were cleared.

The banks are not clearing the loan disbursal proposals in theentire district,'' he claimed.

The garbage was dumped outside branches of the StateBank of India (SBI), the Central Bank of India, the MadhyaPradesh Grameen Bank and the ICICI Bank in Begumganj.

SBI branch manager Pratap Singh told PTI that 333 outof 350 cases of loan for street vendors were cleared earlier.

Now, a target of 350 more cases has been given. Ofthese, only 40 applicants have come to the bank fordocumentation, he said.

He alleged that despite the clearance of loanproposals, Begumganj municipality's sanitary workers on Mondaydumped the garbage on the directives of Chief MunicipalOfficer Sharma to pressurise the banks.

''We made a complaint to the collector after thegarbage was dumped. Later, the garbage was removed,'' he said.

The Central Bank of India's branch manager ChandraPrakash Verma said the earlier loan disbursal target has beenachieved, and a new target of 500 cases have been set.

This will be completed after the applicants'documentation, he said.

''The garbage was not only dumped at the bank's gate,but also inside the branch,'' he said.

He alleged that Chief Municipal Officer Sharma wasangry over the loan cases and directed to dump the garbage.

''We complained to the district collector, who got thegarbage removed,'' Verma said.