The account holders under the Janata Bank's 'Gharey Gharey Janata' scheme are not getting the services of the bank promised to deliver when the scheme was launched about a half a decade back in some of its selected branches in Dhaka city. Under the scheme, the bank is supposed to collect utility bills from the residences of the account holders against the payment of certain amount of fees. The bank initially appointed an employee on contractual basis for carrying out the job.

However, since the beginning, the employees concerned refrained themselves from the visiting the houses of the accountholders, who with a view to avoiding the hassles of paying their utility bills standing in long queues, themselves have been paying the bills at the respective bank branches. But the clients of the scheme on many occasions have been facing problems to pay their bills as the contractual employees have left their low-paid jobs. The bank, in the meanwhile, has discontinued the scheme after finding it to be non-viable.

"Discontinuation of the scheme does not anyway absolve the bank of its responsibility to deliver the services to the existing accountholders. The bank management must ensure the services promised to them", said a client who could not pay his bills due to the absence of the employee concerned at Janata Bank branch at Mirpur circle-10 Wednesday.

News: Financial Express/Bangladesh/20 Jan 2011