Impose moratorium in MFI interest rates for SHGs: Chiru

Praja Rajyam Party president K Chiranjeevi on Thursday urged the state government to impose moratorium for one year on the loans taken by Self Help Group women and rural folk from the Micro Finance Institutions.

Talking to media persons here, the PRP chief stated the government should impose the moratorium until the Reserve Bank of India appointed sub-committee submits its report to the government.

“Though the government has promulgated the Ordinance to regulate abusive and arm-twisting measures of microfinance agents while recovering loans, there is no mention about fixing of interest rate in the ordinance. Without controlling the interest rate, the Ordinance will not serve any purpose,” the Tirupati MLA opined.

Mr Chiranjeevi urged the Chief Minister to mount pressure on the Centre, Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee and Reserve Bank of India to fix interest rate on Micro Finance Institutions.

Expressing concern over shortage of space for storing paddy, the PRP chief asked the Centre and state government to make efforts to provide space in warehouses.

“Although the state produced bumper harvest of paddy, there is no space for storing food grains in godowns. This has forced the farmers to sell their produce less rate in the market,” he pointed out.

The actor-turned-politician also condemned the remarks of Telugu Desam Party president N Chandrababu Naidu against Prime Minister Manmohan Singh during his visit to the state.

Mr Chiranjeevi asked Mr Naidu to withdraw his ‘sadist’ remarks made against the Prime Minister.

He urged government to appoint members, who are untainted and not involved in politics, to the Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanam Administrative Board.