Banks should consider the disbursing of crop loans to farmers as their ‘national duty’ and they should display ‘sensitivity’ while doing this, said Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis.

Fadnavis was speaking at a meeting of senior bank officers from different banks held in the Mantralaya, where he took a stock of Hybrid Annuity road construction in the state while answering queries of the bankers.

Pointing out that the Kharif season had started in Maharashtra with sowing of seeds have been undertaken by the farmers, the Chief Minister emphasized that the farmers needed money to buy seeds and fertilizers – for which they should be given the crop loan within the stipulated duration.

However, many local bank branches are so +insensitive+ in this regard that farmers are angry at their behavior, Fadnavis said while urging all banks to order their local branches to disburse the crop loan as soon as possible.

Noting that a state-level meeting of the Bankers Committee had been held recently in which some decisions related to crop loan distributing were taken, he said these decisions should be followed by all banks, and that their local branches should consider disbursing of crop loans to the farmers as their ‘National duty’

Public Work Department Minister Chandrakant Patil, Public Works Department (public undertaking) Minister Eknath Shinde, Employment Guarantee Scheme Minister Jaykumar Rawal, Minister of State for Public Works Department Pravin Pote-Patil, State Bank of India President Rajnish Kumar and others were also present on the occasion.