Few banks, ATMs in Left Wing Extremist-affected districts in Jharkhand

RANCHI: Over half a dozen Left Wing Extremist (LWE) affected districts of the state are far behind others when it comes to having number of bank branches, automatic teller machines (ATM) and deployment of bank correspondents (BCs). This was revealed during the state-level bankers’ committee (SLBC) meeting held here on Friday.
According to the SLBC report, there were 2,881 bank branches, 2,696 ATMs and 89,256 BCs in the 19 LWE sensitive areas of the state till December 2022.
Among them Latehar had only 44 branches, while Khunti and Simdega had 50 each and Lohardaga 61 branches. These districts were lagging behind others like Ranchi (476), Dumka (323) and Bokaro (203).
According to source there is only one bank branch, which is of Bank of India, in the entire Peshrar block of Lohardaga district. While government banks are opening branches in LWE affected areas under pressure from their offices, the private sector banks are staying away.
The SLBC report further stated that Simdega had only 17 ATMs in the entire district, while Latehar had 32, Chatra had 39 and Lohardaga had 44 setups in this regard. In contrast, number of ATMs in Ranchi was 773, Dumka 467 and Bokaro 242.
The number of BCs in Khunti, Simdega, Ramgarh and Seraikela were also less compared to the other districts.
Talking on the issue, bankers said that lack of a secure environment and also investment opportunities are the two main causes for lesser number of banks in the districts of the state.
Senior manager of SLBC, Bibhaw Kumar said, “The security of bank premises, employees and cash is a challenge in remote LWE areas. The situation is particularly tough in Lohardaga, Latehar, Palmau, Simdega, Khunti and Garwah districts. Banks are trying to reach out to people through BCs. They too, however, are being targeted by the miscreants.”
He said that SLBC sub-committee on security has also held a detailed discussion on the issue.
Lead district manager Simdega Sanjeev Kumar Choudhary said, “Bank branches have been shifted to another place due to security on several occasions. Besides, lack of business activities and topography are among the reasons for lesser number of branches in our district.”