Jammu, Dec 18:
Dev AsthanMathwar is situated in the banks of River Chenab nearly 35 Kms from City of temple Jammu. Mathwar is famous for the devout place and temple of Baba BalloJi, which is about 700 years old. This place is also well known for its captivating Natural Scenery. Asa part of its business expansion strategy and a humble gesture towards providing the best of facilities to the devotees paying obeisance at the Shrine of revered Baba Balloji and witha view to facilitate pilgrims, local visitors and general public, J&K Bank today commissioned an Ultra Small Branch (USB) along with an Automated Teller Machine (ATM) at Dev Sthan of Baba Ballo Ji at village Mathwar- one of the famous pilgrim placesinAkhnoor area of Jammu district which will benefit its catchment area comprising of around 14 villages and 10 Panchayats of the area thereby serving a population of approximately 15000 people. It will also facilitate the local traders besides thousands of devotees who visit the pious Dev Sthan daily from across and outside the state.
Sh.YashpalSharma(Mathwar Wale Baba Ji)accompanied by Divisional Commissioner Jammu Mr. Sanjeev Verma (IAS) in presence ofJ&K Bank Chairman & CEO Mr.Parvez Ahmed today inaugurated the Ultra Small Branch (USB)along withan onsite ATM at Mathwar, Jammu. Also present on the occasion were the bank’s Executive President Mr. R K Chibber,PresidentsMr. Rakesh Gandotraand Mr. ArunGandotra, Vice Presidents Mr. Sudhir Guptaand Mr.Shareesh Sharmaandother senior functionaries of the bank besides visitors, devotees and local residents of the area. The management of the shrine headed by Sh.Yashpal Sharma (Mathwar Wale Baba Ji) also felicitated the Chairman J&K Bank and Divisional Commissioner Jammu on the occasion.
The Ultra Small Branch, which also happens to be the first ever bank branch to be opened in the area, will be providing basic banking services to the unbanked population of the village Mathwar.Notably there is no other bank or branch with in 15 Kms of this area and the residents had to shuttle up and down daily for their day to day banking needs. The newly opened USB will now cater to the basic banking needs of local populace.
While inaugurating the USB & ATM at Mathwar, the Divisional Commissioner Jammu Mr. Sanjeev Vermasaid that J & K Bank is an iconic institution of the state which is at the forefront of serving the society and also applauded the Chairman for being a dynamic and visionary CEO who has taken Bank to greater heights through his personal efforts by proactively engaging himself with various sections of the society.The bank acts not only as a financial service provider but also as an enabler for the implementation of the various initiatives of the state and central govt. The bank has a highly committed workforce which has been serving the public in a very professional manner under challenging circumstances in every nook and corner of the state. He also appreciated J&K bank’s role in reaching out to the far flung rural areas and providing them with world class services at their doorsteps. While appreciating the leader ship of J & K Bank he said, “J&K Bank has played a pivotal role in creating vibrant financial ecosystem across the state that keepson empowering the people of all sections of society and moreover uplifting the living standards of common masses”.
While addressing the dignitaries present on the occasion, the Chairman said, “Today I feel honored to dedicate this Ultra Small Branch along with an onsite ATM facility,in the service of the residents of village Mathwar”. As a financial institution, we cherish fulfilling the basic banking requirements of the each and every individual of the village. The customers of the areawill benefit immensely to have the comfort of a physical branch nearbyas this will eliminate the need to travel long distances inorder to get an access to basic banking facilities. The bank shall also conduct Financial Literacy Camps (FLC’s) and provide Aadhaar Card Enrolment facilities in the area”, said Mr. Parvez Ahmed.
While taking note of the history of the place, the Chairman was informed that Baba Ballo used to graze his cows from village kotli to sarote village and to venerate the practice of milk production and processing, a dairy and milk processing centre would be established here where in the process of milk production till packaging would be done mechanically. It is pertinent to mention here that there is a large scope of milk production, distribution and dairy development in this area for which the chairman said that the bank will be sponsoring a complete dairy processing centre along with Chilling Plant ,where all the produce can be processed locally at Mathwar, thereby creating the employment avenues as well as raising the socio economic status of the people and overall development of the region and create a unique sacred brand for the place
The Chairmanexhorted upon the Branch Head of the newly commissioned Ultra Small Branch to work hard towards meeting the expectations of the locals and ensure that every resident of the area has an account with J&K Bank within next one year and monitoring for the same shall be done every fortnight by respective cluster head and Zonal office. He also expressed hope that after one year of its operations, the USB gets transformed into a full-fledged business unit. He also impressed upon the staff posted there to provide the best customer efficient services to the customers. The chairman remarked at the end “I want to see this area to be economically and socially transformed due to J&K bank”.
In the end, Sh.Yashpal Sharma (Mathwar Wale Baba Ji) thanked The Divisional Commissioner for sparing his valuable time out of his busy schedule for attending this function. He also thanked the bank management for their active cooperation and support towards opening the USB& ATM in such a far flung area. He further requested the Chairman to keep the branch open on Sundays as the area is always thronged by people and devotees from nearby villages on Sundays, which is agreed by the Chairman on spot.
