Bhubaneswar, Dec 7: Taking note of the insurmountable difficulties faced by the people, especially in the rural areas, due to the effect of demonetisation, the Odisha government has decided to expedite the process to provide banking service in the unbanked rural areas.
This was decided at a high level meeting presided over by chief secretary, Aditya Prasad Padhi at the State Secretariat here yesterday. Principal Secretary, Home Tuhinkant Pandey informed the media that Banking Correspondents (BCs) will be appointed in about 1000 unbanked Gram Panchayats (GPs) of 107 blocks. The process for recruitment of BCs through Odisha Livelihood Mission will begin in two days. The meeting decided that the banks will recruit the Bank Mitras and the Self Help Group (SHG) members as BC.
It’s decided that initially 1000 BCs will be recruited for 1000 GPs while in the next six months, 6000 BCs would be recruited in 6000 GPs so that people of these panchayats can have free financial transaction. To resolve the shortage of new Rs 500 and Rs 1000 notes, the Finance secretary stated that in order to overcome the problem, the state government is mulling over digital payment mode. And to make people aware on digital payment among the people, a training programme would also be held at the district level under the guidance of the district collector. The aim of the training programme will be to acquaint people with cashless transaction.
