Bank account of over 25 lakh people have thus far been opened under ‘Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana’ in a time span of three-and-half months, officials claimed here.
As per the official records, the State has achieved 90 per cent of its target of opening bank accounts with enrollment of 25,94,515 local households, they stated. To this, Chief Minister Raman Singh has expressed happiness and congratulated all the divisional commissioners, district collectors, bank officials and employees for their contribution in this regard. He further instructed the officials concerned to complete the remaining 10 per cent of given target in this month.
As per the State Finance Department, over 75 per cent target of opening bank accounts in all seven districts of Bastar Revenue Division have been achieved. In remaining 20 districts of the State about 92 per cent of target has been achieved. The officials concerned claimed of achieving at least 90 per cent of target set for 16 out 27 districts of the State including Koriya, Mahasamund, Dhamtari, Surajpur, Mungeli, Surguja, Rajnandgaon, Bemetara, Jashpur, Kondagaon, Kanker, Durg, Raipur, Raigarh and Kabirdham (Kawardha) district.
The Finance Department assured of achieving the target set for all the districts except Bastar division by the end of this month, while about 85 per cent of bank accounts will be opened in Bastar division in this duration. The officials from Raipur situated zonal office of State Bank of India, which has been authorised as Nodal bank for the scheme, said that only 1.10 lakh bank accounts are remaining to be opened under this scheme in Chhattisgarh.
The same will be achieved in collaboration with the State Government within the given time period, they added. A ‘zero balance account’ will be opened under the scheme. The account holder will be insured of accident insurance policy worth Rs1 lakh. In case of permanent disability or death of the account holder in accident, the amount will be given to his/her family members.
On November 22, Chief Minister Raman Singh had directed the concerned bank officers to open accounts of all the families by December under Prime Minister’s ‘Jan-Dhan’ Scheme. Singh was speaking at a meeting of senior officers of the State Government and bank officers. He had also reviewed the progress of the scheme. The Chief Minister said that the ambitious yojana is a part of Prime Minister’s top priority schemes and the work of opening bank accounts should be sped up.
About 31 lakh families out of 56 lakh families have bank accounts under various schemes. The rest of the 25 lakh families accounts will be opened under the Prime Minister’s ‘Jan-Dan’ Yojana. The scheme was launched on August 28 this year. A large number of accounts were opened during separate camps held in entire State. The remaining section of the population will be covered by December-end. Singh directed the bank officers to take a survey and open the bank accounts as early as possible. He revealed that there are 15 banks covering an area of 1,000 sq. km. in Chhattisgarh while the national average is 35 banks. The public sector banks should open more branches in all the districts.
Economic activities in far-flung areas of the State are rapidly increasing and hence there is need for banks in remote areas. It will be profitable for the villagers and also banks can appoint correspondents in remote areas of the State. The post-offices also can be included in the venture. Chief Minister asked the bank officers to send the details of the bank accounts opened under ‘Jan-Dhan’ scheme to Revenue Department of the State Government. About 14 lakh workers who are drawn from unorganised sector, will now also have saving accounts under Pradhan Mantri Jan-Dhan Yojana in Chhattisgarh, officials said.
Chief Minister Raman Singh had announced that both Chhattisgarh Building and Other Construction labourers Welfare Board (Chhattisgarh Bhavan Avam Anya Sannirmaan Karmkaar Mandal) and Chhattisgarh Unorganized labourers Welfare Board will work for registration of labourers so that they can be benefited under various schemes. Now such labourers will be encouraged to open bank accounts under Pradhan Mantri Jan-Dhan Yojana.
As per latest official data, Chhattisgarh Building and Other Construction labourers Welfare Board has registered strength of 7.47 labourers while the Chhattisgarh Unorganised labourers Welfare Board has registered number of 6.64 lakh workers. Pradhan Mantri Jan-Dhan Yojana will encourage labourers to develop habit of savings from their hard earned money. Under the scheme, the workers will be provided accidental insurance of Rs1 lakh and general insurance cover of Rs30,000. In a major decision regarding child labour, Singh announced that various departments of the State Government will work with mutual coordination for identification and rehabilitation of child labourers and to provide them educational facilities.
Union Minister of State for Mines, Steel and labour Vishnudev Sai on August 28 during the launch of ‘Pradhanmantri Jan-Dhan Yojna’ had stated in Raipur that the scheme will become a milestone in socio-economic development of the country. Sai had stated that despite being a new State, Chhattisgarh has achieved significant success in various fields in a short span of 14 years. However, providing banking services in all villages is yet to be achieved and the ambitious ‘Jan-Dhan’ scheme will prove helpful in this regard, he said.
Highlighting the features of the scheme, Sai said that the account holder will get an insurance cover of Rs1 lakh and the account if operated regularly for six months, the account holder will be eligible for getting an overdraft of Rs5000. The grants received under Government schemes will be directly transferred into the bank account of the beneficiary.