The state government is going to launch the ‘Bank on Wheels’ to help farmers get loans on their doorstep. Twenty vans with ATM facility will move around 20 remote and tribal pockets in Keonjhar, Koraput, Kalahandi, Mayurbhanj, Sundargarh and Sambalpur districts for the purpose.
The Centre has provided Rs 6 crore, at the rate of Rs 30 lakh for each vehicle, to agriculture department for the scheme under Rashtriya Krishi Bikas Yojana. “The scheme will be launched in August,” said Tushar K Panda, managing director, Odisha State Cooperative Bank (OSCB), which will facilitate launch of the vans. “Anyone can withdraw money from the mobile ATMs though the scheme is meant for farmers,” said Panda.
The vehicles will be handed over to the central cooperative banks (CCBs), which will run and maintain them, said chief general manager (OSCB) L D Mishra.
As many as 44 lakh famers under primary agricultural cooperative societies (PACS) will be issued smart kisan credit cards to withdraw crop loans sanctioned to them, said Panda. There are 2,709 PACS under CCBs in the state. As many as 17 CCBs are functioning under OSCB.
The vans, which are wirelessly connected with other banks, will also have an information kiosk and will be considered as a CCB branch, said an OSCB officer.
Each van will have a CCB branch manager, a cashier and an armed guard. At present, famers are getting cheques for loans at 322 CCB branches in the state. Encashing the cheques is time-consuming.
In 2014-15, the cooperative banks in state disbursed 70% (Rs 8351.11 crore) of crop loans out of total Rs 12,174.84-crore loans, sanctioned in the state, Panda said. In the current financial year, the banks target to give Rs 10,000-crore crop loans.
The state government will also launch a data centre at OSCB main branch and RuPay debit cards. The centre will have all information about OSCB, CCBs, PACS and urban coop+erative banks.
Prasanta Patnaik 
amfnews