Financial inclusion programme held

VISAKHAPATNAM: A ‘Financial inclusion and literacy programme' was held as part of the platinum jubilee celebrations of Reserve Bank of India (RBI) at Chintalaveedhi village of Paderu mandal in the district on Thursday. The village was adopted by the RBI and attached to Union Bank of India, Paderu branch, to cater to all the banking needs of the villagers of that village. The objective of adopting the village was to save the villagers from the clutches of money lenders and micro financiers, according to a statement issued by the bank. Regional Director of RBI, Hyderabad, A.S. Rao inaugurated the programme. General Manager of State Bank of India T.S. Ramaswamy, Assistant General Manager of UBI, Visakhapatnam region, D.V. Gupta and Project Officer of ITDA, Paderu, S. Satyanarayana participated in the inaugural programme. In his report, the Branch Manager of UBI Paderu N. Subba Rao said that there were 210 households in Chintalaveedhi and ‘no frills' accounts were opened in the names of the householder and his wife. They were given an ATM card, cheque book and passbook. He said that SMART cards were issued to 50 per cent of the eligible beneficiaries. The speakers stressed the need for timely repayment of the loans taken for availing more facilities from the banks. Assistant General Manager, RBI, Hyderabad, Krishna Kumar proposed a vote of thanks.