Bhubaneswar: Small-savings officers working in the districts and at the grassroots level have been asked to work for spread of financial literacy among the public.

In a letter to all district collectors, additional chief secretary in charge of finance department Tuhinkanta Pandey said: "The state government has decided to involve the district small savings officers, sub-divisional small savings officers and small savings officers working at the district and sub-divisional level in financial inclusion and digital payment initiatives of the state and the central government."

These officers, in addition to their existing responsibilities, would work for spread of basic financial literacy among the general public, facilitate their access to banking and insurance facilities and provide necessary support to the collectors in monitoring of priority sector ending.

"Accordingly, the job chart of district small savings officers, sub-divisional small savings officers and small savings officers has been revised," said Pandey.

The additional chief secretary, therefore, asked the district collectors to utilise the services of these officers effectively in the areas of mobilisation of small savings and achieving the objectives of financial inclusion and digital payment.

According to the revised job chart, the district small savings officers will aid and assist the district collectors in all matters concerning mobilisation of small savings in the district, appointment of all small savings agents and achieving target of small savings collections in the district.

The district small savings officers will maintain effective coordination with the superintendents of post offices and post maters of their respective areas.

They will also attend the divisional postal co-ordination committee meetings in each quarter and organise pay roll savings groups in government and non-government offices of the districts.

Similarly, the sub divisional small savings officers will do the above duties at the sub-division level.