Every panchayat in the State would have a brick-and-mortar branch of a bank by 2019, said Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik here on Thursday at the State-level launch of the Pradhan Mantri Jan-Dhan Yojana (PMJDY).
Inaugurating the event, he said that achieving financial inclusion targets for the poor and marginalised is a challenge and assured all help from the State Government in achieving the targets. Union Minister of Tribal Affairs Jual Oram said that on the very day of the launch of the programme, a record number of 1.5 crore people have opened bank accounts in 600 prominent places throughout the country. In Odisha, 62,000 bank accounts were opened in various districts on the day. He informed that under the PMJDY, anybody can open a bank account without the hassles of requirement of many documents and with a zero balance. After six months, the account would enjoy an overdraft policy of Rs 5,000. The accountholder would have an insurance cover of Rs 1 lakh. State Finance Minister Pradip Amat said financial inclusion and electronic transfer of public schemes are good governance. Among others, Chief Secretary GC Pati, RBI Regional Director PK Jena, NABARD Chief General Manager SK Kale and SlBC Convener SK Nandi were present. UCO Bank CMD Arun Kaul presided over the function.