THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The state government’s education loan repayment support scheme (ELRS) was one among the several projects stalled after the once-a-century floods that ravaged the state.For the past four months, the government could not sanction money on a single application. Till then about `90 crore was distributed to about 3,000 applications.
Finance Minister Thomas Isaac said the distribution would resume shortly and fund crunch will not be a issue. “Despite a massive requirement of funds for the post-flood reconstruction activities, the government has decided to sanction funds for as many applications under the ELRS,” he told Express.
The minister said the government had expedited measures to sanction the applications. “The The Finance Department has avoided scrutiny of every application forwarded to it by the State Level Bankers’ Committee. Only a random check of 5 percent of the total number of applications is done,” Isaac said.
The minister said that a total of `250 crore will be sanctioned within the next few months. The budget had earmarked `900 crore for the flagship scheme of the Pinarayi Vijayan Government.
Isaac said the government was actively considering a proposal to expand the ambit of applications. “There are demands to include students who studied in the management quota scheme and those studies in colleges outside the state for assistance. The government would explore the technical feasibility of the proposals,” he said.At present, the management quota students doing only nursing courses are considered for the scheme.