HT Correspondent
DIMAPUR, Dec 8: The Nagaland government reviewed the implementation of the Chief Minister’s Micro-Finance Initiative (CMMFI) scheme in the chief secretary’s office in Kohima on Thursday.
The meeting chaired by chief secretary J Alam discussed issues pertaining to the implementation of the CMMFI scheme.
Senior state government officials and the bank attended the meeting. The deputy commissioners, who are the chairmen of the respective district level implementation-cum-monitoring committees, along with the members, attended it through a video conference.
Alam apprised that the CMMFI scheme is one of the two flagship programmes launched by the state government in addition to the Chief Minister’s Health Insurance Scheme (CMHIS). He asked all the deputy commissioners to accord top priority and lead from the front with regard to its implementation. He also directed the deputy commissioners to conduct awareness programmes in their respective district by December 15.
The chief secretary appreciated Wokha district for the proactive role played in creating awareness and receiving applications for scrutinizing and approval. He encouraged the other districts to follow suit and also create a district facilitation centre with members drawn from the agri and allied departments in order to expedite the implementation of the scheme.
Development commissioner Amardeep S Bhatia drew attention to the CMHIS and asked the deputy commissioners to ensure the saturation of registration of all government employees and the public under the scheme so that health cards can be issued to all before the election process starts.
Agriculture production commissioner Y Kikheto Sema said the CMMFI scheme is a first-of-its-kind scheme in the state where the loan component of 60% is to be provided by the banks and the state government will provide 30% of the total project cost as a back-ended subsidy. The beneficiary will have to contribute just 10% of the project cost, he added.
Sema said the KCC holders will have the additional benefit of 4% interest subvention by the state government. He also said the total cost of the CMMFI scheme would be around Rs 217 crore, out of which Rs 65 crore is subsidy from the State government, Rs 130 crore from the bank and Rs 22 crore as beneficiary contribution. The CMMFI is expected to generate employment opportunities for about 1500 unemployed youths and entrepreneurs, he said.
The chief secretary also directed the lead bank to issue fresh directives to all the bank branches regarding their role and responsibility in the implementation of the CMMFI scheme so as to ensure the timely dispersal of loans to the beneficiaries.
