Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik on Friday asked all banks to ensure that there is no dislocation of day-to-day life of common citizens following demonetisation of Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 currency notes.
He asked banks to take remedial measures in a proactive manner for disbursal of payments to social sector beneficiaries like the Old Age Pension holders, Student Scholarship holders, inmates of Ashram Schools and other institutions run by Government and other agencies as well as wage earners under the MGNREGA.
He said a State-level monitoring group headed by the Finance Principal Secretary and representatives of the RBI, SBI, Convener of the State level Banker's Committee, Social Security and Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities Principal Secretary and Panchayati Raj Secretary as members would track the development closely and brief the Government on day-to-day basis. The Chief Minister said banks must ensure that people do not face any harassment/delay when they come for deposit or exchange of notes to banks.
Informing that more than 4,400 gram panchayats have no bank branches, Patnaik suggested to the RBI and other banks to provide banking services by mobile banks and temporary banking counters. He assured to provide required infrastructure for the purpose. Patnaik said he would take up this issue with the Union Finance Minister shortly.