Silchar gets its first all-women bank

SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT

SILCHAR, June 22: It is perhaps for the first time in the history of Barak Valley that a fully female oriented branch of Assam Gramin Vikash Bank (AGVB) started its journey today, located in the Vivekanda Road of this town. Though the Bank is absolutely woman-staffed, customers can be any one irrespective of gender. It must have been a matter of pleasure and privilege for Shankar Lal Bhattacharjee to become its first customer. The branch would serve the people of the area and its neighbourhood in a better way.

 Presently, there are 22 branches in Barak Valley. In Assam as a whole, the number stands at 414. It is a bank in which Government of India has 50% share, UBI 35% and state government 15%. In fact, it is the largest bank in Assam with wide network. Significantly, AGVB earned the envious status by having the highest number of 24 lakh account holders under Ja Dhan Yoja in the state. No other bank has reached this target. There are 80 lakh customers from all segments of society starting from a small entrepreneur to all those who want loan for business.

 The magement of the bank with its staff lays stress on hassle free services to customers. Farmers can easily avail themselves of fincial assistance for the betterment of their agriculture. The instance of Anupam Deka has been cited who started his business with a loan of Rs.1 lakh. Now his turnover is in crores of rupees. He employs around 5000 persons to carry forward his flourishing business. In 1975, there existed district level banks. Among them one was Cachar Gramin Bank in Barak Valley, the other at Pragjyotishpur.

 In 2006, all district level and regiol banks were amalgamated to form Assam Gramin Vikash Bank. Till date, 20 banks have been tiolized with which AGVB continues to compete with the sole objective of providing better services to the customers without any harassment. While touching upon various aspects of the Bank, a cautiory note was sent to all those present and people in general not to fall in the trap of chit funds. With their deceptive claims and lucrative returns, many chit funds have taken thousands of people for a ride.

 Assam Gramin Vikash Bank magement wants to open more branches in both the urban and rural areas to save people from such chit funds. An appeal was also made on the occasion to open accounts only with banks or post offices. There is enough scope for business in Cachar. There are 76 active tea gardens which have accounts with other banks to deal with payments to workers and other transactions. The transaction is around Rs.500 crore each month. If AGVB is allowed to open branches in tea gardens, it will go a long way in meeting the needs of the magements of tea estates, besides contributing towards the development of the areas. The only branch that is successfully operating is in Rosekandy tea estate. The success of this branch is quite inspiring.

 The magement is hopeful and confident that the newly opened branch at Vivekanda Road here will justify its very existence to the entire satisfaction of those who become its customers. All this information came from the speeches of Shiv Shankar Singh, chairman, Sarif-Uz-Zaman Laskar, director, Ram Krish Sarma, chief mager, AGVB, S Viswathan, IAS, Deputy Commissioner of Cachar, Niharendra rayan Thakur, chairman, Silchar Municipal Board, Jagat Jyoti Bhattacharjee, lead district mager, Rukan Uddin Ahmed, regiol mager, and Suma Das Gipata, branch mager. The branch was ceremonially iugurated by S Viswathan by lighting the auspicious lamp and thereafter he cut the ribbon to declare the branch open.