Guntur: New norms land JVD beneficiaries in trouble

Guntur: Beneficiaries of the Jagananna Vidya Deevena and Jagananna Vasati Gruha Deevena schemes are spending Rs 500 to Rs 1,500 to open the student joint account with their mother to get the financial assistance to pay the college fee installment and hostel charge installment to be released very soon under the scheme. According to norms, the student should be the primary account holder and mother as secondary account holder.

According to the GO issued by the government, banks have to open the zero based account to the beneficiary. The banks are forcing the students to pay a minimum account balance to open the SB account. Beneficiaries have no option except to pay the amount to open the account. In order to open the new bank account, students as a primary account holder, the banks are taking three to four days to give a new passbook. The beneficiaries are making rounds to the banks to open the joint account. The bank officials are asking the minor students to get the PAN Card to open the bank account as early as possible. They are saying a 17-year-old student should get a PAN Card.

Eligible students are applying for the PAN Card. They have to spend some more to get a PAN Card and wait some more time. Some banks are asking to fill Form -60.

Unable to open bank accounts in reputed nationalized banks, some of the beneficiaries are going to Grameena Banks, branches in remote areas.

Daily wage workers and beneficiaries belonging to poor families are feeling inconvenience to open a new bank account because they already have one bank account. They have to spend some more money to open a bank account. They are wondering why the government changed the guidelines now. The daily wage workers lose one or two days of work to open a new bank account.

Deputy Director of the Social Welfare Department Madhusudhana Rao said, “I will take up the matter with the lead bank manager and ask him to give instructions to open the bank account for the JVD scheme with zero balance. Some banks are collecting the minimum balance to open an account and it has come to my notice.”