Banks in Kerala decide to reschedule loan repayments

Banks in Kerala have decided to reschedule loans and to not levy service charges and fees for issuing new cheque books to customers affected by the floods that has left a trail of destruction.

The State Level Bankers Committee, Kerala, at its emergency meet on Tuesday also decided to announce a moratorium on education loan for a period of six months and all other loans for one year besides rescheduling the loan repayments for five years.

Addressing a press conference here on Wednesday, Canara Bank chairman T N Manoharan and its executive director and SLBC chairperson PV Bharathi also said no fees would be levied for debit card and cheque books, among other things, for customers affected by the floods.

“We will not charge any fees from customers affected by floods to restart their banking activities. This will come into force immediately and this facility would be available till October 31,” Bharathi said.

All documents and data were safe as there was a Disaster

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM:

The Akshaya Patra Foundation said on Wednesday that it has set up a temporary kitchen in Alappuzha district of Kerala to serve free meals to people in the flood-affected state. So far, Akshaya Patra has served 25,000 freshly cooked meals (rice, sambar, special rice, palya) and around 70,000 chapattis in the region, the NGO said in a statement. “We have ensured our best to serve fresh hot meals to the people of Kerala . ... We will continue our services by feed-

Recovery Centre for every bank, she said.

A total of 323 bank branches and 423 ATMs had submerged in the floods, she added. Of the affected branches, 162 have resumed functioning, Bharathi said. Giving details about the branches that have not started functioning again, she said there are 67 in Pathanamthitta, 33 in Alappuzha, 29 in Ernakulam and 19 in Thrissur districts.

With regard to ATMs, 82 have ing till the situation stabilises,” Akshaya Patra Foundation vice chairman Chanchalapathi Dasa said.

The first kitchen was set up at the Pandangiri Lower Primary School, but unfavourable weather conditions and heavy flooding resulted in it being shifted to St Aloysius College Stadium.

Eventually, the kitchen setup was moved to Kidangamparambu Sree Bhuvaneswari Temple auditorium in Alappuzha.

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been reactivated, she added.

Though some of the branches have been opened, the banks have yet to start full-fledged operations as computer systems were not fully functional, she said. Asked whether articles kept in bank lockers were safe, bank officials said lockers in some branches were also under water. “We will know only when the customer opens it, whether the articles have been damaged or not,” a bank official said.