Dhaka, Bangladesh (BBN)- Bangladesh’s commercial banks are set to extend their corporate social responsibility (CSR) activities for improving lifestyle of the residents of 111 former enclaves, officials said.
The banks are also going to expedite agriculture loan disbursement facility along with other financial support programmes to bring those unbanked people into banking network.
“We want to bring all the residents of the former enclaves into the banking system through implementation of different financial inclusion programmes,” a senior official of the Bangladesh Bank (BB) told BBN in Dhaka on Friday.
He also said a number of banks have already taken different initiatives for ensuring socio-economic development of the country’s new citizens.
The banks will provide various essential things, including tube-wells, sewing machines, corrugated iron (CI) sheets and bi-cycles, to the people of former enclaves next week, the central banker added.
BB Governor Dr Atiur Rahman is scheduled to visit former enclave areas in Panchagarh district on Sunday for taking part in different programmes there, according to the BB official.
A group of journalist has left the capital Dhaka for Rangpur on Friday afternoon to visit former enclaves in the country’s northern districts.
A good number of banks have already taken initiatives to expedite different lending progammes and to expand their CSR activities to people of the former enclaves.
“We’re going to boost our agriculture loan disbursement programme to the former-enclave people in line with the BB’s instruction,” a senior official of a leading private commercial bank told BBN.
The central bank earlier asked the banks and non-banking financial institutions (NBFIs) to extend farm loans to the citizens of the 111 enclaves.
Bangladesh has received the enclaves recently with 52,000 people, who have been deprived of basic amenities, such as - education and healthcare, for the last 68 years.
Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has already assured that necessary steps would be taken by the government for overall welfare of the residents of former Indian enclaves.
In her first visit to a former enclave after the historic enclave swap between India and Bangladesh on August 31, Sheikh Hasina met the inhabitants of Dashiarchhara enclave and distributed solar home systems among the residents on October 15.
Talking about the measures taken by the government for the people putting up in the enclave, she said five temporary police centres have already been set up and added that construction of three government primary schools and community clinics was underway.
She also extended her sincere thanks to the Indian Government and the members of the Indian Parliament for unanimously voting in favour of the bill on Land Boundary Agreement.
She also thanked the governments of the Indian states of West Bengal, Tripura, Assam, Meghalaya and Manipur for their support.
BBN/SSR/AD