Madurai, March 8 : Madurai Lok Sabha MP Su.Venkatesan on Tuesday requested Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman to take a decision for full waiver of education loans granted to Indian students studying at Ukraine and advise banks to return their collateral securities. In a letter to Sitharaman, Venkatesan said he wish to bring to the attention of the Finance Minister the travails of Indian students studying at Ukraine, particularly in repayment of their educational loan due to the ongoing war in that country. According to some estimates, there are around 20,000 Indian students in Ukraine whose safety and future are endangered due to the war. Most of the students belong to ordinary middle class families, who have gone there to pursue medical courses, since medical fees are comparatively much higher at private medical colleges in India. They have availed educational loans in banks by giving collateral security of their parents’ hard earned property. Now they are in great difficulty and the possibility of default is imminent in many cases, he said. We have seen that banks are suffering huge losses of several thousand crores every year in the name of ‘hair cuts’ and non realization of ‘bad debts written off’ in respect of big loans availed by corporates. Venkatesan said it is high time for the Central government to come to their rescue and extend helping hand to rub the tears of the students belonging to the families of lower strata in the society. “I request you to take the decision for full waiver of education loans granted to Indian students studying in Ukraine and advise banks to return their collateral securities. The financial implication for the said decision would be very meager compared to the total loan portfolio of the banks,” he added. GSM CS1645