PANAJI | March 30, 2016: The state government has decided not to grant any more extensions to the one-time settlement (OTS) scheme for mining borrowers, the last day for which is Thursday. Accordingly, the OTS scheme will close on March 31, 2016.
Bankers said that it was high time the scheme closed as most of the cases willing for settlement have been settled. In the last three months (January- March 2016), there have been hardly any new claimants coming forward for settlement, said bankers. They said that while most of the mining truck owners had gone in for settlement, the scheme found only a few takers from among the barge owners.
The OTS scheme announced by the government on September 3, 2014, is for the afflicted mining borrowers. It was initially for a period of six months and received several extensions as banks took time to agree to the terms and get approval from their boards. Nearly all PSU banks and urban co-operative banks are part of the scheme. The latest extension for the scheme was for a three-month period in December 2015. More than 1,740 borrowers with an outstanding loan amount of Rs 395 crore have taken recourse under the scheme.
At the state level bankers committee (SLBC) meeting in February 2016, banks had said that they planned to go in for an all-out recovery of mining loans, especially from barge owners who have not shown interest in settling their loans. The process to get back money from barge owners will commence from April 1, 2016, after the government’s OTS scheme ends, bankers said.
The total exposure of all banks in Goa to mining stakeholders (truckers, barges and mining equipment) is estimated at over Rs 1,744 crore and barge owners are the largest borrowers. Very few of them have come forward to be a part of the government’s OTS scheme. Banks are planning to take action against all borrowers who have not been part of the scheme.
Goa’s barge owners have said that they have no money for even one-time settlement, with no sources of income since September 2012 after mining closed. Although mining has reopened, the volumes of iron ore exports are low and barge business has not picked up.
(Source: http://www.navhindtimes.in/)