BHUBANESHWAR: The Odisha government today requested the Centre to open mobile banks and temporary counters in rural areas to facilitate transactions in unbanked gram panchayats.
The issue was raised by chief minister Naveen Patnaik during his meeting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the Sansad Bhavan, New Delhi on Monday. The chief minister also raised Odisha's dispute with Chhattisgarh over Mahanadi river water at the meeting.
Patnaik requested Modi to ensure that District Central Cooperative Banks (DCCBs) are allowed to exchange demonetised currency notes. He said that tribal persons residing in the scheduled areas of the state should be exempted from submission of Permanent Account Number (PAN) to make deposits of above Rs 50,000 in specified currency notes.
He urged the Prime Minister to issue directives to scheduled commercial banks to open brick and mortar bank branches in all 4401 unbanked GPs in the state by March, 2019. He said that the Centre should also ensure availability of cash in Rs100 and Rs 500 currency notes for at least 12 to 14 days in bank branches of the state. The chief minister also requested that the women-self help groups be allowed to operate their bank accounts without any restrictions.
In a separate development, the Odisha government today filed a complaint petition with the union ministry of water resources for setting up of a tribunal to resolve the Mahanadi river water dispute with Chhatisgarh.
"I urged the Prime Minister to issue directions to Chhattisgarh government to stop further construction on Mahanadi and its tributaries and act expeditiously to protect the interests of Odisha," Patnaik told media persons.