Finance Ministry urges Jan Dhan beneficiaries to avoid rush to banks

The Finance Ministry on Friday (April 3) keeping social distancing norms as suggested by the government to the fore, appealed to the women Jan Dhan (PMJDY) account holders to follow the schedule announced by IBA for withdrawal of ex-gratia amount, and avoid rush at bank branches, in a bid to prevent the spread of deadly coronavirus.

All banks from Friday have started remitting Rs 500 to beneficiary accounts in line with the announcement made by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman last week.

“Appealing PMJDY women a/c holders to check last digit of their a/c no. & follow schedule shared below to visit banks, CSP & Bank Mitras. Withdrawal can also be done via any bank’s ATM. No charges for using ATM. Let’s follow social distancing & fight #corona,” Financial Services Secretary Debasish Panda said in a tweet.

As per the schedule by Indian Banks Association (IBA), women Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana (PMJDY) account holders having account number with last digit as 0 and 1 will get the money in their account on April 3, while account ending with 2 or 3 can approach the bank on April 4.

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On April 7, beneficiaries with the account numbers ending with 4 or 5 can collect their money, while account ending with 6 or 7 may withdraw on the following day.

The last tranche would be remitted on April 9 for account number ending with 8 or 9, it said.

While in case of urgency, you can withdraw the money immediately, for orderly disbursal, you may follow the banks payment plan, the ministry requested the beneficiaries.

This is the first of the 3 monthly installments under the Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Yojana announced last week.

Beneficiaries are encouraged to use the neighbourhood ATMs with RuPay cards, Bank Mitras, CSPs as much as possible to avoid crowding at the branches, it said.

“Please note that there will be no charges for withdrawing money from other bank ATMs, at present, as per the government directives,” it said.

(With inputs from agencies.)