Mangaluru: Dakshina Kannada district – which prides itself on pioneering the banking sector, claimed that “it is the first district in the state to have at least one Basic Savings Bank Deposit (BSBD) account for all families, through a campaign which was initiated under Pradhan Mantri Jan-Dhan Yojana (PMJDY).”

Announcing this to press persons on Friday, DC A.B Ibrahim said, bankers in the district opened over 1.64 lakh accounts during the campaign. According to the 2011 census, the district has over 4.39 lakh households and at least one in the family now has a bank account, he said.

The campaign, which was started on August 28, 2014 in the district, was supported by 25 banks, including the four nationalized banks, private and public sector banks. The bank representatives surveyed predesignated areas that  had no access to banking, through door-to-door visits. On thursday, all the bankers completed their task”, DC said.

He also said that, this achievement will be officially declared after it is approved by State Level Implementation Committee of PMJDY. If any household does not have a bank account, they should approach the nearest bank”, the DC informed.

Earlier, M.P Nalin Kumar Kateel said he would invite Union ministers to declare 100 per cent implementation of PMJDY in Dakshina Kannada district.

PMJDY aims to provide bank accounts to all households in India. It envisages the  issue of RuPay debit cards with Rs 1-lakh accidental insurance to all account holders. Overdraft of Rs 5,000 to a member of the family will be provided after observing satisfactory transactions in the account for six months.