Pune: The implementation of the Ladki Bahin scheme has led to a massive rush in banks impacting operations and leading to quarrels between the staff and customers. People in the banking industry said four issues have cropped including Aadhaar seeding of bank accounts, non-performing assets of beneficiaries, dormant accounts, and deduction of service charges. "Some beneficiaries in rural areas had taken agriculture loans which turned NPAs.
Now, there is an automated system where all accounts of a borrower are blocked if the loan account is marked as NPA," Devidas Tuljapurkar, convener of United Forum of Bank Unions, told TOI. Another problem is the pending service charges on savings accounts if beneficiaries do not transact for longer durations. Instead of the whole payout being reflected in the bank accounts, beneficiaries in many cases, lost a significant amount to service charges.
Several accounts that were opened as Jandhan accounts were later converted to savings accounts, attracting minimum charges. This, coupled with the rush to revive dormant accounts and the completion of know-your-customer norms, led to excessive strain on banks' operations. Explaining these technicalities to account holders who have not transacted in months led to tiffs between the customers and bank employees, Tuljapurkar said.
With an increase in online services, almost all banks reduced employees in their branches. There are not more than three to four employees at a branch who have to attend to more than 200 customers at a time in some cases. The bank staff also has to attend to regular workload in addition to this rush, with no support from the administration, Krishna Baroorkar, general secretary of the All India Bank Officers Association, said.
"Banks were not equipped to handle this load and beneficiaries suffer at the end of the day. The situation is similar to demonetisation," Shailaja Choudhari, who monitors anganwadis in Pimpri Chinchwad and Pune, said. The bank employees' union has written to chief minister Eknath Shinde and requested the administration to provide additional manpower to deal with the workload and provide additional security to manage the rush at the counters, "failing which this unrest will perpetuate further and may prove to be counterproductive.
" Shubhangi Nanavare, a Ladki Bahin beneficiary, said that she had sent her documents almost a month ago, but has not received the funds as her Aadhaar seeding has been pending for more than a week. "I may open a zero balance savings account with the Indian Post to resolve the issue," she added. Pune: The implementation of the Ladki Bahin scheme has led to a massive rush in banks impacting operations and leading to quarrels between the staff and customers.
People in the banking industry said four issues have cropped including Aadhaar seeding of bank accounts, non-performing assets of beneficiaries, dormant accounts, and deduction of service charges. "Some beneficiaries in rural areas had taken agriculture loans which turned NPAs. Now, there is an automated system where all accounts of a borrower are blocked if the loan account is marked as NPA," Devidas Tuljapurkar, convener of United Forum of Bank Unions, told TOI.
Another problem is the pending service charges on savings accounts if beneficiaries do not transact for longer durations. Instead of the whole payout being reflected in the bank accounts, beneficiaries in many cases, lost a significant amount to service charges. Several accounts that were opened as Jandhan accounts were later converted to savings accounts, attracting minimum charges.
This, coupled with the rush to revive dormant accounts and the completion of know-your-customer norms, led to excessive strain on banks' operations. Explaining these technicalities to account holders who have not transacted in months led to tiffs between the customers and bank employees, Tuljapurkar said. With an increase in online services, almost all banks reduced employees in their branches.
There are not more than three to four employees at a branch who have to attend to more than 200 customers at a time in some cases. The bank staff also has to attend to regular workload in addition to this rush, with no support from the administration, Krishna Baroorkar, general secretary of the All India Bank Officers Association, said. "Banks were not equipped to handle this load and beneficiaries suffer at the end of the day.
The situation is similar to demonetisation," Shailaja Choudhari, who monitors anganwadis in Pimpri Chinchwad and Pune, said. The bank employees' union has written to chief minister Eknath Shinde and requested the administration to provide additional manpower to deal with the workload and provide additional security to manage the rush at the counters, "failing which this unrest will perpetuate further and may prove to be counterproductive." Shubhangi Nanavare, a Ladki Bahin beneficiary, said that she had sent her documents almost a month ago, but has not received the funds as her Aadhaar seeding has been pending for more than a week.
"I may open a zero balance savings account with the Indian Post to resolve the issue," she added..
