By opening a total of 29,17,334 bank accounts to cover entire households in the State, Punjab has become the third State after Kerala and Madhya Pradesh with 100 per cent coverage of all uncovered households under Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana (PMJDY).
Punjab Government has achieved another milestone by covering all households under the scheme, said an official spokesperson. He said that in order to cover 54,76,724 households in the State, banks conducted door-to-door survey with the help of state government in the urban and rural areas allocated to them.Principal Secretary Finance and PMJDY mission director Vini Mahajan, Secretary Expenditure Jaspal Singh, Deputy Commissioners and leading Banks worked overtime to conduct the survey and opening of accounts of uncovered households.
Disclosing the strategy adopted to meet the target in record time, spokesperson said that weekly video conferences with all the Deputy Commissioners and lDMs were held by Vini Mahajan on the directions of Chief Minister to monitor the survey as well as open new savings accounts.He said that during the survey, it was found that 45,73,705 households were already having bank accounts and 8,63,524 households were to be covered.
“To cover the entire households and create awareness among the public regarding the scheme, banks organized 23412 camps. In these camps, 29,17,334 accounts were opened covering the entire households in the State. Rupay cards were also issued for 14,02,286 accounts,” said the spokesperson. He said that Aadhar number, seeding in the State had been done in 1462798 accounts. Mahajan has directed all the banks to complete the Aadhar seeding in the remaining accounts by December 31.
It may be added that this scheme envisages, accidental insurance of Rsone lakh, life insurance cover of Rs30,000 and issuance of Rupay debit card to every account holder, was launched recently in Punjab by Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal.