The Odisha government had pledged to offer mobile banking services throughout the State in an effort to bring doorstep banking services to rural areas. But since the service has been interrupted for a long time, the government has glaringly failed to fulfil its promise.
According to a case study, the Cooperative Bank’s mobile banking service in the Mayurbhanj district has been unavailable, and the buses intended for it have been collecting dust. Additionally, the bus’s ATMs have been lying empty.
In 2019, the bank launched two mobile banking services for its branches in Karanjia and Baripada. But now that they have been serving the public for a few months, the ATMs and mobile buses are just collecting dust and are broken. The situation with mobile bank services is similar throughout the state, ranging from the districts of Ganjam to Koraput.
Even though the State exchequer has spent millions of rupees to provide mobile banking services throughout the State, the people’s discontent has been sparked by the poor execution of these services.
“For the past five years, the vehicles intended to offer rural residents mobile banking services have been idle on the bank’s property. Locals are baffled by the development, according to Satya Sobham Rath, a Jagannath Prasad resident.
It’s just a waste of tax dollars coming from the government coffers. The initiative is not helping people in rural areas, according to Jeypore resident Jagdish Padhy.
Mahendranath Samal, general manager of Mayurbhanj Cooperative Bank, responded to the situation by stating that the mobile banking vehicle’s ATM frequently malfunctions, disrupting the service.
The ATM’s censor is broken and frequently malfunctions because the service goes to remote locations. Money is required for the machine’s repairs. The service will be restored once funding for the repairs is provided by higher authorities, according to Samal.
According to banking experts, it is regrettable if the service has been interrupted due to repair work.
“Mobile banking was introduced to give residents of the State’s outlying areas doorstep access to banking services. The reason for the service’s closure can only be ascertained by the bank authorities. It is very regrettable if the service has been interrupted for repair work, according to banking expert Damodara Nanda.
“Those machines should be set up in some other bank branches if the ATMs in the cars intended to provide mobile banking service in rural areas aren’t working,” he continued.
It is still to be seen if the mobile banking service, which cost crores of rupees to launch, will eventually come to an end or find new life.
