Naveen urges Jaitley to provide mobile banking in non banking areas
14 November, Bhubaneswar
Expressing concern over the plight of people living in villages in the wake of demonetization of Rs 500 and Rs1000 currency notes, Chief Minister Naveen Patnik today urged the Centre to provide mobile banking and temporary counters in the unbanked areas to ease the problems
In a letter to Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, Mr Patnaik said out of 6238 Gram Panchayats in the state about 4,400 Gram Panchayats have no banking facility. He said nearly 70 percent of Gram Panchayats with 1.65 crore people constituting 47 percent of the rural population do not have proper access to banking facilities.
Under such circumstances the demonetization of the old currency notes of Rs 500 and Rs1000 along with restrictions on withdrawal is a big concern the Chief Minister said adding that the Centre must ensure that people living in the villages do not suffer on this account.
He further said these people should continue to access benefits and services such as old age pensions, wages under MGNREGA andscholarships being provided to them without any difficulty. The bank branches should provide the services relating to withdrawal of money and exchange of old currency in a hassle-free manner.
Mr Patnaik requested the Union Finance Minister to instruct RBI and other Banks to urgently provide mobile banking services or set up temporary counters in unbanked Gram Panchayats and assured that the State Government will provide requisite support and infrastructure for the purpose.
The chief minister sought urgent intervention of Mr Jaitley in the matter for the benefit of the people of the state.
Meanwhile, Principal Secretary, Finance, Tuhinkant Pande today said the state government has decided to provide old age, widow and differently abled pensions in the state tomorrow. The state government, he said has earmarked Rs 140 crore for disbursement of pension to about 35 lakh beneficiaries in the state tomorrow.The district collectors have been asked to make all necessary arrangements in this regard.