Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar on Wednesday said that his government will pay the interest for three months on education loans of students in the state, according to PTI. At least 36,000 students will benefit from this as the administration is estimated to pay around Rs 40 crore, Khattar said.

“Haryana government will pay the interest of three months of all those students who are completing their education this year or who have already completed their education in the previous year, but have not been able to start their jobs or business due to this coronavirus pandemic,” he said.

The outbreak of the coronavirus has brought economic activity in the country to almost a standstill. The lockdown, first imposed on March 25, has been extended thrice and the fourth phase is expected to end on May 31. However, many relaxations have been allowed in the ongoing phase of the lockdown.

“The Haryana government will also bear 2% of the total interest on loans of up to Rs 50,000 under the ‘Shishu Yojana’ of the Centre’s Mudra Loan Scheme,” Khattar said. “They will not be required to give any type of collateral for this loan.” Over five lakh people in the state will benefit through this scheme, Khattar said.

The Bharatiya Janata Party leader said that the state will also provide loans of up to Rs 15,000 to three lakh poor people that will help them start businesses. This loan will be given at a nominal 2% interest rate under the Differential Rate of Interest scheme. “In this scheme, banks charge 4% interest. Of this, 2% will be paid by the state government,” Khattar added.

To make it easy for applicants to avail these loans, the chief minister said that a new portal is being developed. “The state government will ensure that all such loan applications are approved by banks without any delay,” he added.

In the last three months, Khattar said his administration has provided financial assistance of Rs 636 crore to 15.09 lakh families in Haryana. “This amount has been directly transferred to the bank accounts of the beneficiaries,” he said, adding that over 27 lakh families have been given free ration.

“Apart from this, 3,70,925 families who do not have ration cards are also being provided free ration through Distress Ration Tokens,” Khattar said. “So far, 2.62 crore food packets and more than 12,22,000 dry ration packets have also been distributed to needy people.”

The BJP leader said that more than two lakh labourers have been sent to their native states from Haryana via 53 trains and 4,257 buses. The Centre started running ‘Shramik Special’ trains from May 1. However, many still continue their gruelling journeys on foot, cycles, or any other means of transport they can find. Many of them have died in accidents.

Haryana has so far recorded 993 Covid-19 cases and 14 deaths, according to the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare.

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