Odisha wants swift roll out of bank branches in un-banked regions

Of 6,238 gram panchayats in the state, 4,597 were un-banked in 2014; two years since, only 186 branches have been opened

Piqued at the tardy progress of opening of bank branches in the unrepresented gram panchayats, the Odisha government has urged the Union government to take timely steps to establish the branches by March 2019.

The demand was raised by state finance minister Pradeep Amat at the eastern zonal council meeting in Ranchi on Monday.

"Out of 6,238 gram panchayats (GPs) in the state, as many as 4,597 GPs were identified as un-banked in 2014. During the last two years, only 186 bank branches have been opened. It is therefore urged that the Government of India may take suitable steps for opening of branches in each of the remaining 4,411 un-banked GPs of the state by March 2019 for providing universal access to financial services", Amat said.

Since large tracts of tribal areas in the state are uncovered by banking services, people in these regions fail to access government schemes.

For increasing bank penetration and financial inclusion, the Odisha government has come out with a scheme of extending financial support for three phase power supply to tempt commercial banks to open new branches in the unbanked gram panchayats. There are 4,600 un-banked gram panchayats in the state.

In a recent decision, the state government has finalized the guidelines on giving financial support for the power connectivity to the new bank branches in these gram panchayats.

The state government has allocated a sum of Rs 2.5 crore in the state budget for 2016-17 for power supply to new bank branches in the un-banked panchayats.

For extending banking network to all the panchayats, the state government has already assured the banks to provide space at Rajiv Gandhi Seva Kendras free of cost for five years.

Recently, the state government has taken a decision to support the banks for opening of new branches in the un-banked gram panchayats in backward and LWE (Left Wing Extremism) affected districts -- Malkangiri, Nuapada, Nabarangpur and Kandhamal -- to bear the cost of V-SAT connectivity to the banks for opening of first 15 banks in each of the four districts.