Five Mini ATMs have been launched in Assam tea gardens following the cash crunch.
Highlights
- Bank accounts have been opened for 15 lakh workers in tea gardens
- The mini ATMs of the UBI cater to 50 tea gardens a week
- Locals say it is too few, given there are 850 gardens in the state
Sajan Shasoni is a fourth generation tea garden workers from Dherai tea Estate in Assam's Sonitpur district, around 200 km from Guwahati. But unlike his forefathers, he has a bank account, and soon will withdraw cash from an ATM every pay-day.
The government's scrapping of the 500 and 2000 rupee notes last month and the subsequent currency crunch has brought a fresh focus on digital transactions. The government has repeatedly asked employers to shift to making payments in the employees' bank account.
For the 15 lakh tea garden workers of Assam, it is a huge shift. The local banks have not only opened free bank accounts and given them debit card, but are also launching mobile Mini ATMs, which carry cash to the remote tea garden and have been instant hit.
The United bank of India, the main bank for Assam's tea industry, has launched five such vans where a mini ATM is mounted and connected through 4G terminals.
Young tea garden workers like Sajan are elated. "I never had an ATM card before. This is the first time I have withdrawn cash from ATM that too right inside our tea garden," Sajan said.
"For tea garden workers it is almost impossible to collect money from the bank, thus came the idea of Mobile mini ATMs that can fit into a van" said Supriyo Bhattacharjee, the chief manager of UBI at Tezpur.
The vans cut the distance gap between the bank branches and the isolated tea gardens. These are also being used by the bank for an on-field crash course for rural people on digital banking and ATM use.
But only five Mobile Mini ATM vans can at best cover 50 gardens in a week - far too few, since Assam has nearly 850 tea gardens.
"Worker are used to a cycle that every weekend they were getting cash in their hands from the office. Now they have to withdraw from ATMs, they are a bit hesitant about it," said Prashant Kumar, manager of the Dherai tea estate.