By Bizodisha Bureau, Bhubaneswar, October 26, 2019: The Odisha government has issued a clarification on its earlier direction to its departments, PSUs and other agencies to be ‘very careful’ while keeping deposits in any bank saying that there is no reason to get apprehensive about financial health of the banks in general.

“It is to be clarified that the state government does not have any view on the fiscal health of any particular bank. That comes under the domain of Reserve Bank of India. There is no reason for anyone to get apprehensive about the financial health of the banks in general,” read the clarification from Odisha’s Principal Secretary to all the concerned officials and departments.

The clarification came after Reserve Bank of India (RBI) expressed concerns over the Naveen Patnaik-led administration’s directives to its departments against making deposits with banks.

The Odisha government also clarified that the earlier circular issued on October 21 was only meant to avoid opening of new accounts and shifting of government funds meant for welfare and development activities of government without any reason from one bank to another.

Earlier, Odisha’s Principal Secretary, finance, A K Meena in a letter to the officials and concerned departments, stated that “precaution” has to be taken when depositing government funds in banks”. The statement issued then stated that it shall be “the personal responsibility of the concerned authority for such deposits.

The letter had then asked the departments to utilise the government funds directly from treasury through Integrated Financial Management System (IFMS) instead of parking the amount in any bank account. The letter also mentioned that withdrawal of money from treasury without sufficient grounds and depositing the same in bank account shall be construed as a financial irregularity.