Imphal, May 19 2009: Recovery of the loan that the Government had disbursed under the Self Employment Generation Programme (SEGP) has become a herculean task in the hill districts of the State, according to the implementing agency of the programme.

Launched in 2004-05, the State Government had sanctioned a sum of Rs 150 crores under SEGP which envisages to provide self employment among the unemployed youths of the State.

Out of the total sanctioned amount, Rs 75 crores was meant for the implementation of the programme in the five hill districts, namely Senapati, Chandel.

Tamenglong, Ukhrul and Churachandpur while the remaining Rs 75 crores was for the four valley districts namely Imphal East, Imphal West, Thoubal and Senapati.

However, in the hill districts only around 15 percent of the loan amount has been recovered so far, according to an official source from the Manipur State Co-operative Bank, which is the implementing agency of the programme.

Again, among the five hill districts, Churachandpur and Senapati have proved to be the most difficult districts when it comes to loan recovery, the source added.

Although Manipur State Co-operative Bank is the implementing agency of the programme, selection of the beneficiaries was done by the Deputy Commissioner of the districts concerned.

The loans were given to the beneficiaries only after a Government employee volunteered to be the guarantor or on the basis of the land valuation.

Most of the beneficiaries in the hill districts have availed the loan on the basis land valuation.

Even though Manipur Land Revenue & Land Regulations Act is not applicable in the hills, there are legal provisions in which the land of the Schedule Caste and Schedule Tribes could be mortgaged in a society bank.

It was under this provision that the loan had been given based on land valuation in the hill districts, the source said, while informing that Manipur State Co-operative Bank is also a society bank.

However, the beneficiaries in the hill districts have not been repaying their loan taking advantage of the difficulties of the bank staff to come and recover the loan due to unsettling law and order situation.

Even if the mortgaged land of the defaulters could be forfeited, a situation has come about in which the bank could not put it into practice as the land owner will remain the same.

In such a situation, implementation of SEGP is not likely to be successful in the hills, the source said, adding that the intervention of the Government would be essential in this regard as the programme had been launched by the Government.

On the other hand, out of the total Rs 75 crores sanctioned under the same programme for the valley districts, a sum of Rs 64 crores had already been disbursed to the selected beneficiaries and so far 50 to 60 percent of the loan had already been recovered successfully.

Of the total Rs 150 crores sanctioned for the programme, the bank is entitled to get Rs 20 crores as its share capital from the recovered amount.

However, the bank has not been able to recover even the amount of its share capital, the source said, adding that so far the bank has recovered only around Rs 10 crores of the Rs 139 crores disbursed as loan from the total sanctioned amount of Rs 150 .

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