Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik on Monday urged Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley to ensure that people living in unbanked 4,400 gram panchayats in Odisha don’t suffer in the context of demonetisation of Rs 500 and Rs1000 notes and restrictions on money withdrawal.
“About 4,400 out of 6,238 GPs in Odisha do not have a bank branch. In other words, 70 per cent GPs with 1.65 crore people constituting 47 per cent of the rural population do not have proper access to banking facilities. My concern is to ensure that people living in the villages do not suffer on account of demonetisation,” Patnaik said in a letter to Jaitley.
He mentions that people should continue to access benefits and services such as old age pensions, wages under MGNREGA and scholarships without any difficulty. Besides, bank branches should provide the services relating to withdrawal of money and exchange of old currency in a hassle-free manner, urged the Chief Minister.
Besides, the Chief Minister also requested Jaitley to instruct RBI and other banks to urgently provide mobile banking services or to set up temporary counters in unbanked GP. The State Government would provide requisite support and infrastructure for this purpose, he assured.