Public sector banks have decided to organize special camps to distribute Kisan Credit Cards (KCC) across all their branches in Jharkhand.

The first two camps of such nature will be organized in all branches of PSBs on February 11 and 25. The major motive behind this drive is to achieve the 3.5 lakh KCC distribution target for banks in Jharkhand. The target for the state was earlier set at 6 lakh KCCs by Reserve Bank of India, but was later revised by the RBI governor to 3.5 lakh owing to the poor performance.

According to D Chakravarty, general manager of Allahabad Bank, the under performance of banks has been due to non availability of land records and high default rates. The bank is the head of state level bankers' committee in Jharkhand.

"Since the report is yet to be tabled at the state-level bankers committee meeting, I can not give details of defaulter or actual bad debt. High rate of defaulter is one of the important reasons for poor distribution of KCC in the state," said Chakravarty.

A senior officer of the bank affirmed that demand for gratification by officials is one of the major causes for shallow demand for KCCs. "We often receive complaints of demand of gratification by managers and officials for distribution of KCC. Recently there was a complaint from Lohardaga district and we are pursuing the case," said the officer.