Even after Centre’s directive to open more bank branches in the Maoist-hit areas, the service expansion scheme continues to lag behind in such areas across the State.
Principal Secretary Home Asit Tripathy has drawn the attention of Union Cabinet Secretary PK Sinha towards the issue.
Hardly have 12 bank branches been opened in the leftwing Extremist (lWE)-affected areas during last one year, pointed out Tripathy during a recent video conferencing with the Union Cabinet Secretary, sources said.
While the Union Finance Ministry is focusing on the expansion of bank branches and opening of post offices in the lWE areas, the commercial banks do not appear keen to open their branches in these regions, sources said.
As many as 19 districts are lWE- hit in Odisha out of which the red rebels are mostly active in Malkangiri, Koraput, Kalahandi and Balangir districts.
In view of the dominance of the Maoists in these districts, the Centre is laying emphasis on expansion of the bank branches and improvement in the internet connection system there.
But the output is found to be zero in these regions, the sources added.
Notably, the banking service is hugely affectedly due to the poor internet connectivity and the State Government has demanded from the Centre upgradation of the V-SAT system.
Other lWE-hit States, including Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand and Bihar, have also raised the issue with the Centre in this regard.
Meanwhile, the electricity connection in the rural areas is also a matter of concern.
In view of the slow progress of the electrification programme in the villages, the Union Ministry of Power has directed for timely connection in the Maoist prone States, including Odisha.
Besides, the Centre has laid emphasis on the bank branch expansion, improvement in the internet connectivity and road connectivity apart from electrification in Odisha, Chhattisgarh, Bihar and Jharkhand, the sources added.