Araku MLA Ch Phalguna urged officials of Nabard to expand their banking activities in the Agency areas of
Visakhapatnam district, especially in and around Araku Valley.
In a meeting with local officials of Nabard, Ch Phalguna presented a petition urging them to expand activities in the Araku
Valley, apart from also setting up a nodal bank dedicated exclusively to tribals.
Ch Phalguna a former banker said, “This proposal that I put across to the Nabard general manager makes a lot of sense
because we do not have local cooperative banks anymore, instead if we have a centralised and dedicated bank for tribals
functioning from all the major ITDA areas, funds from nationalised banks, ITDA and Nabard could be deposited in the bank for tribals.”
Phalguna said that currently the system works in such a manner that Girijans have to approach various banking agencies
(nationalised banks) for loans.
He added that these banks could function more efficiently if they are manned by qualified local tribal youth.
Nabard general manager Prabhakar Behera during the interaction with the MLA said, “Nabard has granted loans for the
construction of tribal huts (Rs 3 crores) and Rs 5 crores for the construction of a modern market yard.”