Bhubaneswar, Sept. 9: Chief minister Naveen Patnaik today launched 20 banks-on-wheels equipped with full-fledged bank branches, ATMs and information kiosks.

These mobile branches will operate in 20 blocks in the 16 tribal-dominated districts of Keonjhar, Koraput, Malkangiri, Nabarangpur, Rayagada, Sundargarh, Gajapati, Kalahandi, Mayurbhanj, Sambalpur, Angul, Dhenkanal, Boudh, Kandhamal, Nayagarh and Ganjam. These 20 blocks do not have a single bank branch.

Flagging off the bank-on-wheels project, Naveen said: "There are several gram panchayats which do not have banking facility. Providing banking service in tribal-populated areas through mobile branches is a laudable step by the Odisha State Co-operative Bank."

The state government plans to extend this mobile banking service to all the 314 blocks across the state so that 55-lakh farmer families could reap the benefits, he said.

Stating that the contribution of the co-operative banks towards providing crop loan facilities to farmers has been 70 per cent as against the national average of 17 per cent, Naveen directed the co-operation department to prepare a road map so that all farmers could avail of the credit benefits.

He also asked the officials to complete the computerisation process of all the primary agricultural co-operative societies and the conversion of all kisan credit cards into smart cards within a year.

The state co-operative bank has distributed 45 lakh kisan credit cards to its farmer members. By August next year, these cards will be converted into smart cards so that the cardholders can draw loans from the bank directly.

The chief minister also inaugurated the core banking data management centre, which will now connect 355 units of the state co-operative bank, the affiliated district central co-operative banks and the urban co-operative banks.

With the inauguration of the data centre, the state co-operative bank has come into the banking map of the country. The bank has also come under the National Payments Corporation of India gateway along with the affiliated central co-operative banks.

This will enable the bank's customers to access any of the 1.88 lakh ATMs across the country. Naveen also launched the RuPay debit cards on the occasion.

Co-operation minister Damodar Rout said the issue of RuPay debit cards and the functioning of the data centre would facilitate direct credit of the proceeds of paddy procured by government agencies, crop insurance claims and other subsidies and incentives meant for farmers to their accounts.