Bengaluru: Realising the sorry plight of people in villages which have no banks, officials of Vijaya Bank, the lead bank in Mandya district, are visiting villages daily to help people exchange Rs 500 and Rs 1000 notes.
This has come as big relief for rural people who otherwise have to go to the district headquarters or other villages having banks. Already, the staff has visited three villages and is planning to cover another 10-15 villages in the coming days.
Mr M. Sridhar Murthy, regional manager and Mr Suhas, chief manager, regional office, Vijaya Bank were behind the launch of the scheme. On day one, the staff visited Santhekesalagere village situated five km away from Mandya town, along with a vehicle to ferry Rs 100 and Rs 2,000 currency. They drove to the local panchayat office where panchayat employees informed local villagers about the arrival of bank staff to exchange the notes. As many as 230 people took advantage of the service.
Mr Suhas told Deccan Chronicle that they visited B Hosur village where over 150 villagers exchanged old notes. He said the ceiling on note exchange remains the same in villages, the only difference is that banks are going to villages instead of rural people coming to cities. On an average, Rs 10 lakh worth old currency has been exchanged daily in the last three days.
The officials are also carrying a scanner machine to scan documents produced by villages for exchange of notes. Mr Suhas said the staff are going to the houses of the old and physically challenged who are unable to visit the nearby panchayat offices for exchange of old notes. Besides, the pension of social benefit schemes are also disbursed to them at their doorsteps.
