Mudra camp meant for Union minister? Who cares for public

LUDHIANA The state-level Mudra camp organised by the Union ministry of finance here on Friday turned out to be an opportunity to please Union minister Vijay Sampla as the stalls set up by various banks wrapped up soon after the minister left the venue at around 1.15 PM. The camp was supposed to be held from 11 am to 4 pm as was publicised.

As many as 20 stalls were set up by different banks at the Guru Nanak Bhawan where the camp was held. The stalls were set up to provide facilities like account opening, Aadhaar number and mobile number seeding with bank accounts, distribution and activation of RuPay cards and enrolment for various social security schemes.

After Sampla reached the venue at 11.30 am and inaugurated the camp, all bank officials were looking enthusiastic to provide information and help the public. They later moved to the auditorium where Sampla addressed the audience. In his address, the minister asked people to avail loans under the Pradhan Mantri Mudra Yojana.

A retired PNB bank official, Brij Bhushan, stood up among the audience and spoke of the problems he faced while availing loan from a bank.

However, his query was cut short and he was asked to sit down without providing any redress. No other query regarding the Mudra scheme was taken from the audience.

As Sampla left the venue at around 1 PM, the bankers followed him and all their stalls were wrapped up soon.

A number of city residents who reached the venue were then left disappointed.

Pankaj Sharma, a local smalltime businessman who reached the venue at 3pm to avail a loan under the scheme, said there was no senior official at the stall and he was asked to come to the bank to get the form on the Mudra scheme filled. “I went all the way to the Model Town bank branch and was turned back from there too, ” he said.

District lead bank manager Anup Chawla said, “The bank officials could be tired as they started the day early.”

BANKS WRAPPED UP THEIR STALLS SET UP AT THE EVENT HELD BY UNION MINISTRY OF FINANCE IN LUDHIANA AS SOON AS MINISTER SAMPLA LEFT VENUE