look news india
The state government has opened a new avenue of financial relief for lakhs of government employees and pensioners of Bihar. Employees often had to resort to private moneylenders or expensive loans to meet unexpected family expenses, medical emergencies or other urgent needs. To get rid of this problem, now the Bihar government has approved a modern and completely digital system, under which employees and pensioners will be able to easily take advance salary or pension loan through mobile app. The most important thing about this new system is that if an employee or pensioner repays the advance amount taken within the stipulated 60 days, then no interest will be charged from him.
This digital loan scheme prepared by the Finance Department of Bihar has been made completely transparent and consumer-friendly. According to the provisions of the scheme, the government itself will not directly distribute any loan, rather the government will only play the role of a strong guarantor in this arrangement. This advance amount will be made available to the employees through financial institutions and banks, due to which there will be no additional financial liability on the state government treasury. Finance Department officials say that this entire process has been kept free from middlemen so that the eligible employees can get the benefits directly without any paperwork or getting into the trouble of middlemen.
Keeping in mind the financial needs of the employees, this scheme is mainly divided into two categories. The first category is Short-term Advance, which will be given for a maximum of 60 days i.e. two months. If an employee returns this short-term loan when the salary or pension of the same month or the next month comes, then it will be completely interest free. Under this category, you can usually get an amount equal to one month’s basic salary or pension. The second category is Long-term Advance, under which, if needed, employees can take a large amount of loan up to 30 times their monthly salary or pension. However, the repayment period for this long-term loan has been fixed at two to 60 months and it has been ensured that the EMI does not exceed 50 per cent of the employee’s total salary, so that there is no additional pressure on their family budget.
To take advantage of this complete facility, technology will be used on a large scale. An authorized digital app or platform will be launched by the government, through which employees will be able to apply through their smartphones while sitting at home. The process from loan application to its approval and repayment will be conducted with complete transparency through the app itself. The concerned banks and financial institutions will clearly display all their interest rates, fees and rules on the app itself. The Finance Department will act as the nodal agency in this entire process to ensure that employees are not exploited at any level and they get immediate relief in case of emergency.