Now every home in Uttarakhand will have bank account. Very soon the state will have facility of online payment. There will be also an extension of crops and life insurances in the state.
The decision to this effect was taken in a review meeting of 'Financial Inclusion and E-Payment' chaired by Union Finance Secretary DK Mittal on Friday here.
Mr. Mittal has directed all the banks to open atleast one account of a family in rural areas using voting cards as proof of identity. He also advocated opening bank accounts of families living in slum areas and small huts. He said that there ought to be a bank branch in every 5 km distance and a facility of Business Correspondent (BC) in every 2 km distance. According to him the ultra-small branches would help in the extension of banks. He also stressed on extending network of BC with a laptop and 2G network with him. Mr. Mittal said that when everyone would have bank accounts then E-payments would be made compulsory and pension, scholarship and other payments would be made electronically. This would ensure transparency and save precious time, he said.
Mr. Mittal asked BSNL CGM PK Gupta to extend connectivity in the hill areas of Uttarakhand and establish satellite terminal along with optical fiber. Observing that owing to absence of connectivity the people of far flung areas were deprived of CBS facilities in banks, Mr. Mittal also directed BSNL authority to provide facilities of V-Set, 2-G, MPVS and Y-Max in those areas.
Reviewing the Kisan Credit Card, Union Finance Secretary said that every farmer ought to have the card. Out of total 9.50 lakh farmers only 7.50 lakh have Kisan Credit Card in Uttarakhand. He expected more crop and life insurance coverage from the banks. Mr. Mittal also suggested revising bank timings in Char Dham Yatra routes and other religious places probably from 8.00 am to 8.00 pm including on Sundays.
Chief Secretary Alok Kumar Jain said that banks ought to come forward to provide means of livelihood to the people residing in remote places in hill areas. He observed that this would check migration from those places and their living standard would improve. Mr. Jain said that the State Government was taking all possible steps in this direction and banks should extend their cooperation and support.
Secretary Finance Radha Raturi said that 1.50 lakh pensioners were being paid pension through their bank accounts and VAT was being deposited through banks by departmental website and so far Rs. 14,000 crore had been deposited online. She said that very soon other types of payments would also be done online. Underlining that rural women had no assets in their names, she urged the banks to provide them loans on the basis on Joint Liability Group.
The meeting was attended by Principal Secretary Revenue Om Prakash, Secretary Rural Development Arun Dhaundiyal, Secretary Tourism Dr. SS Sandhu, Secretary to Chief Minister MH Khan and officers of various banks.
