RBI-appointed Task Force holds meet to solve diamond problem

The meeting was held at the Circuit House in the afternoon. Those present included A K Behra of RBI,Surat District Collector Dilip Rawal,DIC representatives Dhaval Parikh,Deputy Labour Commissioner M V Jadeja,M K Jain of Dena Bank,and S C Patnaik of the State Bank of India.

The diamond workers put forward their views before the representatives on how the government should help revive the industry.

SDA joint secretary Rohit Mehta,said: “We tried to explain to the members about the problems being faced by the industry these days. We have suggested steps the government should take and what we are expecting from the banking industry. Liquidity in the industry is very low,and at present,nobody is buying rough and polished diamonds from the market. This has resulted in diamond units shutting down. We have also explained how liquidity should be introduced by giving loans to the unit owners at lower interest rates.”

DWA president Babu Jirwala emphasised on three points before the members. “The banks should give educational loans without interest. The diamond polishers had taken housing loan from the banks and haven’t been able to pay the instalments for the last three months. The banks should reduce the interest rates and relaxation should be given on the instalments. The banks should provide loans at low interest rates to those diamond polishers who want to start small businesses.”