Concerned asked to complete coverage by Dec
By: Ibni Maqbool
Srinagar: As many as 21 villages with population of each above 5000 are still without banking facilities, official documents reveal.
Documents accessed by The Precious Kashmir reveal that the issue came up for discussion during the 4th meeting of Jammu and Kashmir Union Territory Level Bankers committee held on September 20 in Central Kashmir’s Ganderbal district.
“It was also informed that 21 villages with population above 5000, are yet to be covered by banks under the roadmap. These include seven villages of J&K Bank, five villages of HDFC Bank, two villages each of PNB, Canara Bank and Central Bank of India and one village each of State Bank of India, ICICI Bank and UCO Bank,” reads the record note of the meeting available with this newspaper.
According to minutes of the meeting, J&K Bank executive president informed the participants that seven pending villages would be covered soon by J&K Bank.
“As regards seven pending villages to be covered by J&K Bank, executive president, J&K Bank informed that the business unit at one location and business correspondents at six locations shall be operational by the end of September 2021,” the record note further states.
The panel directed the concerned banks to complete the coverage of all uncovered villages by the end of December 2021.
The meeting was chaired by Union Minister of State for Finance Bhagwat Kishanrao Karad and was attended by chief secretary Arun Kumar Mehta, top bureaucrats of J&K UT and representatives of banks and other financial institutions.
