Bhubaneswar, Jul 19 (PTI) The Odisha government has decided to allow banks to operate with 50 per cent staff capacity instead of 25 per cent from Monday in order to avoid heavy rush of customers, a notification issued by the Special Relief Commissioner (SRC) said.

The 50 per cent staff will be allowed in four heavy virus load districts of Ganjam, Khurda, Cuttack and Jajpur along with Rourkela city where a 14-day lockdown has been imposed from July 17 to July 31.

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The SRC made this modification in the wake of the banking authorities pointing out their problems due to heavy rush of customers due to less manpower because of the lockdown.

The banks in the four districts and Rourkela city are allowed to operate from 8 AM to 2 PM with Customer Service from 8 AM to 1 PM with effect from 20 July to 31 July, the fresh notification said, adding that the banks will strictly follow the norms of physical distancing.

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Accordingly, district administration and local police will provide the required support to the banks to ensure proper physical distancing, where required, said the notification.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)