With non-availability of currency notes continuing to be a problem after 10 days of demonitisation, Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik on Friday urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to exempt the people living in tribal areas from producing PAN card for deposits above Rs 50, 000.
“The recent directives to banks for insisting on PAN number for deposits of more than Rs 50, 000 is putting tribal families to extreme hardship. Due to stamping out of Rs 500 and Rs 1, 000 notes, they are now forced to deposit their legitimate earnings in banks. lack of banks in these areas is forcing people to travel distant places to make their deposits and, in case of higher deposits, not having a PAN card is a huge cause of concern. All this has put people living in scheduled areas to immense hardship,” Patnaik wrote in his letter to Modi.
Non insistence of PAN card would save people from repeated visits to the banks which they are forced to undertake at present. This would also mean fewer crowds in banks making their operations smoother, Patnaik added.
Notably, 23 per cent of the State's population belongs to the Scheduled Tribe category and are residing in 44 per cent area of the State.
He further mentioned that out of 6,500 odd gram panchayats, 4,400 have no presence of scheduled banks. A large majority of these unbanked GPs fall in the schedule areas, inhabited primarily by Scheduled Tribe communities. In fact, almost 90 per cent of them do not have a PAN card, the CM stated.
Meanwhile, Chief Secretary AP Padhi discussed currency circulation issues with the RBI Regional Manager Saradap Prasanna Mohanty and the Chief Post Master General. Padhi urged Mohanty to ensure that adequate notes reach inaccessible areas of the State.
“We will take cash in helicopters to remote areas of Odisha. The Chief Secretary has assured us that the Government will bear the transportation cost,” Mohanty told reporters after the meeting.