Ranchi, Sept. 27: The state government has claimed to have identified 80,000 beneficiaries under the Mudra Bank Yojana and is targeting another 20,000 before the official launch of the ambitious loan scheme for the non-agriculture sector in Jharkhand on October 2.
With Prime Minister Narendra Modi slated to do the honours in Dumka, the state BJP unit and the government are working overtime to showcase the roll-out as a great success.
Chief minister Raghubar Das, personally supervising the preparations, ensured that state officials remained on toes even today, a Sunday. He called a review meeting at Project Building to take stock of the arrangements being made for the Prime Minister's proposed visit.
Present during the meeting were chief secretary Rajiv Gauba, principal secretary (finance) Amit Khare, secretary (rural development) N.N. Sinha, CM's principal secretary Sanjay Kumar and State Level Bankers' Committee co-ordinator M.K. Gupta, among others.
"We have already covered 80,000 (beneficiaries who have been identified/roped in for the scheme). We hope that the numbers will swell further and cross the 1 lakh mark by September 30. Tomorrow a video-conferencing will be held with the Dumka district administration on preparations for the function," Khare told The Telegraph after the review meeting.
According to chief minister's aides, Das called on JMM patriarch and Dumka MP Shibu Soren at the latter's Ranchi residence in the day to invite him to the October 2 programme - the move is perceived as an attempt to pre-empt attacks by the regional party that has been worried over the BJP's aggressive campaign in the tribal heartland.
Later in the day, Das went to Deoghar, where he was likely to hold a meeting with local BJP leaders and workers, who have already been asked to educate people about the Mudra yojana that will help small entrepreneurs, especially youths and women, avail loans between Rs 50,000 to Rs 10 lakh without furnishing any guarantee.
After inaugurating the National Junior Athletics Championship (East Zone) at Deoghar stadium tomorrow morning, Das will visit Godda, another district of Santhal Pargana, to review the preparations for the launch of the scheme.These apart, state welfare minister Louise Marandi and BJP leader Deepak Prakash are also camping in Dumka to ensure foolproof arrangements.
The Prime Minister, who will arrive in Ranchi on October 2, will first visit Khunti where he will inaugurate the first-of-its-kind solar power facility at the district court. After the event, Modi will head for Dumka in the afternoon.
State rural development minister Neelkanth Singh Munda, who represents Khunti in the Assembly, is supervising the preparations at the district court.
