A meeting to review the progress of the Central schemes stressed on the need to increase the number of active accounts under Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana (PMJDY).
Chairing the meeting on Thursday, Nalin Kumar Kateel, Member of Parliament of Dakshina Kannada, said that more number of accounts opened under PMJDY should be active. Bankers should take adequate steps to create awareness among customers about PMJDY and other financial inclusion programmes, he said.
The official who represented the Lead Bank (Syndicate Bank) in the district told the meeting that nearly 40 per cent of accounts under PMJDY remained inactive. Around 30 per cent of the accounts linked to RuPay card are not active.
To a query on the number of enrolments under the Atal Pension Yojana in the district, the meeting was informed that the district got less than 1000 applications under the scheme.
Vice-President of Dakshina Kannada Zilla Panchayat Satish Kumpala informed the meeting that many branch managers neither sanction nor reject applications under Prime Minister Employment Guarantee Programme.
Taking a serious note of all these issues, Kateel said that he has received complaints from some people on the poor service by some branches of banks in the district.
He urged the bankers to take steps to make all the accounts opened under PMJDY active.
Lack of awareness among customers is putting various schemes related to financial inclusion programme in a bad light, he said.
Kateel asked the official from the Lead Bank to convene a meeting of regional heads of all the banks to review the progress and prepare strategies for the effective implementation of the schemes under financial inclusion programme.