About 6.50 lakhs beneficiaries under the National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (NREGS) have opened their Savings Bank (SB) accounts with post offices in ten divisions of the Vadodara Region of Post Master which includes districts falling under Central and South Gujarat, said Post Master General of Vadodara Region, A K A Joshi.
Joshi said the department has made an agreement with the Department of Rural Development of Gujarat for opening accounts of beneficiaries under NREGS. Under this scheme, the department is providing services to effect the payment of wages through SB accounts to the beneficiaries of NREGS, he added.
Under this scheme, more than one lakh SB accounts have been opened in the Panchmahal district followed by the Bharuch District, Joshi said.
The Department’s senior citizens’ Savings Scheme offering nine per cent rate of interest on the deposit amount kept with saving bank accounts in the post offices has received good response particularly from those retiring from the government and private services, as they prefer to deposit amounts of Provident Fund, Gratuity, leave encashment etc received after the retirement from the services with the post offices.
The interest rates on savings offered by banks keep on fluctuating depending upon the conditions prevailing in the market while the Department of Posts has continued to maintain this 9 per cent rate of interest on the senior saving deposits scheme, and that is why it is popular amongst the senior citizens under which maximum amount of Rs 15 lakhs can be deposited, Joshi said.
