Additional Chief Secretary, Finance and Development Commissioner Amit Khare reiterated on Friday that there is no cash crunch for distribution of salary to employees in the State. He said that direct supply of currency from RBI to the state has made things much easier, and Jharkhand was having absolutely no problem of cash crunch as far as salary distribution was concerned.
“Districts, including Jamshedpur, Bokaro, Koderma, Dhanbad and others have been provided sufficient cash. State Bank of India (SBI) has also been provided additional cash today for salary distribution,” claimed Khare.
The Government has been trying its best to bring the state out of currency crunch situation which started with demonetisation of `1,000 and `500 currency notes on November 8. It has also deployed helicopters for speedy transportation of cash to district headquarters, so that the further deterioration of situation could be avoided.
Khare said that banks in Dhanbad have been provided a total of `180 crores on Thursday with the largest share of `42.25 crores for SBI Dhanbad in it. At the same time, SBI Hirapur and SBI Sindri have been given `20 crores each and `10 crores to SBI Chirkunda for salary distribution purposes.
He added that Allahabad Bank and Canara Bank in the district have been provided `22.25 crores each, whereas Bank of India (BoI) and Punjab National Bank (PNB) in the district have been provided `31.25 crores and `12.15 crores respectively.
Khare also urged not to create panic about cash availability, as the Government had been monitoring entire situation with utmost sensitivity. Meanwhile, the State is appearing riding on the bandwagon of cashless transaction, which has become much-a-buzz term across the country from at least a week. CM Raghubar Das is scheduled to kick off the process of the State becoming a cashless transaction opting state from Nagri block of Ranchi district on Friday, which is ready to create history by becoming the first cashless transaction opting block in the State.
Amid all the banks pushing their mobile wallet for transactions, SBI organised a demonstration session of its own wallet named SBI Buddy among district administration employees of Ranchi. SBI Regional Manager (Jharkhand) Vikas Kumar said at the occasion that SBI Buddy was extremely user friendly in shopping and fund transfers.
“It is more a mindset issue than the technology related hazards. We all are always at risk with carrying heavy cash at any point of time. It is for the well being of the country, and even for an individual to turn cashless in changing times like this,” said Kumar.
Many employees present there also said that they supported the demonetisation drive, but were concerned with security issues related to online transaction.