JEYPORE: Months after the State Government directed the banks, adopting the Mamata Scheme, to ensure a hassle-free account opening procedure, the financial institutions are yet to adhere to it, as is the case in Jeypore. Scores of expectant mothers were on Monday made to wait for hours, without food, to open a account at the Jeypore branch of UCO Bank.
The pregnant women who had gone to the UCO Bank to open an account were allegedly forced to wait even as the bank officials, were busy with other paper works on Monday.
Under the scheme, the pregnant woman will receive a financial assistance of Rs 5,000 from the sixth month of pregnancy till the child attains nine months. The assistance will be deposited in the bank account of the beneficiary directly from the project level once she fulfills certain criteria. The women are entitled to open zero balance account.
Adopting the scheme, the UCO Bank got hundreds of women enrolled for the scheme. However, as soon as the bank got a good number of account holders, new beneficiaries were neglected. Even pregnant women were asked time and again to get passbooks and account numbers.
The officials cited several problems in the beneficiaries’ papers. “The officials tore my papers and asked to come again just because I am a illiterate, I do not know much about the process,” said a beneficiary Jamuna of Umuri area. “The bank has not issued passbook by citing non-availability and asked the women to come again,” added a social worker of Umuri area.
The UCO Bank Jeypore Branch Manager Bhagirathi Nayak, however, clarified that the pregnant women are being facilitated on humanitarian grounds.