Finance Minister Sitharaman tells banks to operationalise Assam tea garden workers' bank accounts

Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Thursday asked the PSU banks to take immediate steps for operationalising 2.5 lakh bank accounts, which were opened by tea garden workers in Assam but remained dormant due to lack of acceptable KYC documents.

She also asked the banks to open adequate number of ATMs and Bank Mitras to make banking service available to the customers in tea garden areas.

"Banks have been instructed to make the bank accounts DBT (direct benefit transfer) compatible. If it is difficult due to lack of valid identity documents, banks have been asked to take flexible approach and address them before March 15. The banks have also been asked to open adequate number of ATMs as per a map to be provided by the state government. And where they think it is not possible to open ATMs, they must make Bank Mitra service available for the customers to avail cash easily," Sitharaman told reporters here after a meeting with top officials of PSU banks and other trade bodies.

Sitharaman gave 40-days deadline to complete the work.

The Finance Minister was in Guwahati as part of her consultation under 'Jaan Jaan Ka Budget' programme with bankers, industry and trade bodies, academics and local economists.

Sitharaman had come with a team of top officials of the banks after Assam government recently apprised her about the problems faced by it while making the money available to tea garden workers through DBT as nearly 2.5 lakh remained dormant. Apart from the central government schemes, Assam government decided to offer Rs. 5,000 (in two installments) to all bank accounts of tea garden workers.

Assam finance minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said out of the 8 lakh bank accounts opened for tea garden workers, 2.5 lakh accounts remained ineffective, making it impossible to transfer the money to the beneficiaries identified in tea garden areas under the government schemes. Sarma had earlier told Sitharaman that financial inclusion of the tea garden workers was necessary as the tea gardens provide maximum number of employment (40 lakh) in the state, where there are very few industries.

In a report, DH on August 23 last year highlighted how the Digital India programme remained unimplemented in the state's tea gardens due to lack of bank accounts and ATMS.

According to information tabled in the state Assembly on July 31 last year, there are 841 registered tea gardens having 3,85,612 permanent workers and 2,91,223 temporary workers in Assam. But only 28 gardens were paying the wages through bank accounts.