Thiruvananthapuram: Union Minister of State for Finance Pon Radhakrishnan has assured that the Centre will consider the demand raised by the state to raise its borrowing limit. Besides that, the Union Minister has also directed public and private insurance companies to settle all claims filed by the flood-affected in Kerala in a fast-paced way.

“… the demand of Kerala for enhancing (its borrowing limit) from 3 per cent to 4.5 per cent of the Gross State Domestic Product (GSDP) will be looked into by the Central government,” he said at a State-Level Bankers” Committee meet here on Wednesday.

The Minister was on a visit to the flood-hit state of Kerala to review relief and rehabilitation measures being performed by banks and insurance companies and he said that the Centre is ready to provide all kinds of assistance to Kerala.

“All public and private insurance companies have been instructed to quickly process and expedite settlement of all claims arising out of floods,” he said.

He further said that the state government has got a total of Rs. 562.45 crore in the State Disaster Response Fund at its disposal after the allocation of Rs. 214 crores this fiscal.

The Minister also said that the decision for more fund allocation will be decided after a memorandum on losses is submitted by the state. The government of Kerala has said that it is in the process of preparing a new report.

“Based on the memorandum, the Centre will send a team to study the situation before taking a decision on the matter,” Mr. Radhakrishnan said.

Almost 191 bank branches and 179 ATMs were availed to the public after being made functional and steps are being taken to make the other ones too functional as early as possible, he said.

The Minister said that the government has waived any kind of charges for many services like issuance of duplicate passbooks, deposit receipts and charges for not maintaining the minimum balance in accounts mainly to give relief to the people.

Defective and soiled ones will be exchanged at all bank branches. He made it a point about the government extending fresh consumption loans of up to Rs. 10,000 on requirement basis and a moratorium on agricultural and MSME loans for up to one year in Kerala.

As per the direction by the Prime Minister, the Centre has given all kind of possible assistance to Kerala and has provided needed food grains and medicines, Radhakrishnan said.

The Central government is completely sympathetic to Kerala state and regarding that Prime Minister has asked the Ministries concerned to consider the demands made by the state, he further said.

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