Workers in district set to join banking system

Canara Bank conducted a special camp for workers to open account at a construction site in the city recently.

Hundreds of workers in the district are all set to receive their weekly or monthly wages this week for the first time in their bank account.

In a drive for the last two or three days, bank officials have been visiting construction sites, textile mills, and plantations in the district, and conducting special camps.

About 20,000 bank accounts have been opened, especially for workers in the unorganised sectors, in the district through the camps.

This is following a communication from the Department of Labour and Employment recently that a campaign should be launched to open bank accounts for workers of organised and unorganised sectors to facilitate financial inclusion and ensure timely payment of their wages.

According to Coimbatore District Lead Bank Manager A. Kanagaraj, Canara Bank organised nearly 15 special camps in the last two days.

In the case of plantations or remote areas where workers will not have easy access to ATMs to withdraw money, the banking correspondents will be involved.

Regarding agricultural workers, most of them have bank accounts, he says.

And, it is not just the banks but several other departments that are helping workers open bank accounts.

In places such as Dharmapuri, banking correspondents come to the office of the labour department so that workers in the unorganised sectors can open accounts, said Joint Labour Commissioner P. Marimuthu.

For construction workers, the bankers are organising special camps at the construction sites.

K. Arul, Additional Director of Industrial Safety and Health, says the number of accounts opened is relatively high in Tirupur district.

The department is sensitising the industries, mainly those in the organised sector, on advantages of payment of wages to workers in their bank account.

Official sources say the employers can help workers open accounts and even distribute pre-loaded cards. However, the sources add, there are certain challenges in this exercise.

Workers who do not have an identity card are unable to open accounts and they also need to be educated about the advantages of receiving their salary in the bank accounts.

Meanwhile, industries, mainly those in the micro and small-scale sector, say the many of their workers are reluctant to open bank accounts.

Further, those unit owners who face cash availability problems will find it difficult to transfer money to the accounts of the workers. They might have withdrawn the cash available so far for daily expenses and might not have adequate cash in the account.