Excelsior Correspondent
KATHUA, Apr 15: – The inhabitants of Bani have demanded opening of a J&K Bank branch and ATM in the area.
In statement here, today through Mudasar Ali a social activist they said tehsil Bani continues to remain starkly deprived of essential banking services.
Ali said with a population of nearly 60,000 people spread across this vast tehsil, there exists only a single branch of Jammu and Kashmir Bank and just one ATM. This, in itself, appears to be a tragic irony-especially considering the fact that the entire region is deeply integrated with J&K Bank, where most people manage their savings, schemes, and business transactions.
He said this disproportionate and unequal distribution of banking infrastructure hits the remote villages the hardest-especially the villages where the journey to the bank is not just long but also incredibly difficult. Residents of villages like Lowang, Duggan, Chandal, Barmota, Kanthal, Chalog, Dhaggar, Dulangal, Banjal, Fatehpur, Koti, Bhandar, Gatti, and Satti-which include elderly citizens, persons with disabilities, widows, orphans, and students-are forced to travel 15 to 25 kilometers just to complete basic banking tasks, he added.
He said many deputations were taken to concerned authorities and people protested many times but the demand was not conceded till date. Ali also demanded opening of a Government paramedical institute in Bani for the benefit of the aspirants desirous to undergo training. These students have to visit Kathua and Jammu for undergoing training which is a far off area from Bani, he added. He made an appeal to concerned authorities to look into these genuine demands.
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