Nearly 83 lakh bank accounts opened under the Prime Minister Jan-Dhan Yojna in the State so far are under intense scrutiny following the Government’s demonetisation move. State level Bankers’ Committee (SlBC) has alerted all the commercial banks for that.
The step has been initiated following a direction coming from the RBI specifically instructing banks to report any unusual transaction made to the Financial Intelligence Unit and tax authorities for further scrutiny.
“The direction is especially regarding the zero-balance PMJDY accounts those have been mostly left idle for long and have woken up suddenly after the recent incident. Data is being gathered now about such tractions and it will take another 8-10 days when we would be verifying those intensely,” said Uttam Banerjee of SlBC.
Reports coming in suggest that black money hoarders are trapping such account opened mostly by poor and farmers by the Government to park their illicit sum in order to turn it white after some time. An RBI official at Ranchi office confirmed about the ploy being adopted.
“We as a regulator cannot divulge much detail but our official communication and instructions given to all the banks are very much there. If any truth is found in such apprehensions then legitimate action would be initiated by the banks,” said he. Task to collect such details and any suspicious transaction have been given to the SlBC.
Deputy General Manager of the Allahabad Bank SK Singh also admitted about vigilantism underway into over 60000 PMJDY bank accounts with it. “No written instruction has come in this regard but yes we are vigilant. Transaction acceding Rs 49000 in such accounts is not allowed and if any unusual activity is found the account would be fridge,” he said.
SlBC officials also maintained that such transactions are on the radars of the Income Tax Department officials. “Formal communication has not been done so far but our management is in touch with IT Department over any untoward transaction happening following the demonetisation step. We can share relevant data if required with them,” said an official.