Bengaluru, Jan 14: Assuring depositors that their money was "100 per cent safe" with the bank, Sri Guru Raghavendra Sahakara Bank Chairman K Ramakrishna in Bengaluru on Monday said 62 loans had locked up Rs 300 crore of deposit.
"Your money is 100 per cent safe with Sri Guru Raghavendra Sahakara Bank. It's my responsibility," Ramakrishna said at Sri Guru Narasimha Kalyanamandira auditorium, to assure depositors.
He was addressing angry customers of the bank at a public hearing. Due to the 62 dud loans, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) had restricted the lender from executing business, Ramakrishna said amid shouting by depositors. The RBI has limited withdrawals by depositors to Rs 35,000.
"The bank is saying I can't withdraw more than Rs 35,000. In case of our fixed deposit maturing, we will have to renew it as we can't encash it, " said Nagaraj M, 49, who has been dealing with the bank for the past six years.
To assuage customers, the call to an assistant commissioner of police by Bengaluru South MP Tejaswi Surya -- not present -- was relayed on loudspeaker live and the MP claimed that he had spoken to Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman to help the customers.
Ramakrishna said he would meet customers again on January 19 with all the details and numbers. Dramatic scenes and pandemonium ruled the auditorium before his arrival. Thousands of bank customers threatened to go en masse to the police station and file a case against Ramakrishna.
As he addressed the gathering in Kannada, hundreds of depositors shouted back at him seeking clarifications. At the auditorium, thousands of depositors earlier demanded the bank chairman's presence to clarify the matter.
The lender had invited depositors to the auditorium at 6 p.m. to update them on the bank's status, following a RBI directive restricting the bank from doing business with immediate effect.
"We want the bank's directors here," shouted a depositor from the stage. A handful of policemen were trying to control the crowd and bring order to the assembly. Many elderly and retired persons had arrived to know the fate of their savings. Several women were also present at the meeting.
"It was a good bank with only 0.5 per cent NPAs. Now we can't trust any bank. See what happened with the PMC Bank," said another customer.
Shankar Sharma, 38, an employee of a private company, said majority of depositors were senior citizens and retirees. "I don't have an account with the bank, but my mother, uncle, aunt have deposited money in it. I came for them, " said Sharma. He said many of the bank's 35,000 clientele deposited more than Rs 5 lakh, which had total deposits of Rs 1,600 crore. The bank started operations in 1999.
Ramakrishna was escorted away to safety by the police after his speech even as the depositors were screaming and agitating for justice.
Comments
After all these sufferings,it pains a section of us,common peole still support demonetisation !
What was supposed to be a surgical strike against tax cheats and counterfeit currency became an attack on a large informal economy that ran almost entirely on cash. The hardships caused by a shortage of new legal tender, and the rush to deposit old 500 and 1,000 rupee ($15.40) notes in bank accounts before the Dec. 31 deadline, took a heavy toll. More than 100 people died in bank and ATM queues, although it's impossible to confirm if the deaths from heart failure or exhaustion were directly a result of demonetization.
I Will donate one rope to hang him.
@Truth Teller - I share your views 100%
Honestly, i am not sure what is there to like about Congress! Besides all the scams running to several thousand crores and losing face in the international scene (thanks to Kalmadi) they have played religion & caste politics for decades for vote bank ruining the country. For the first time after independence perhaps there is some move towards honesty, improving infrastructure, education and cleanliness. Why some continue to hate Modi is just beyond me if you truly love this country. Rahul is bad news for India unless they find someone else who can be like Modi - hardworking & with a vision to change.
Honesty is incompatible with the amassing of a large fortune - Mahatma Gandhi
Modiji is the true and honest man after Gandhi
Demonetization in India was a war against dishonesty and it is a movement against corruption.This exercise has brought an awareness to the people not to make wealth dishonestly.Majority of the people wanted honest system in India and supported the Government's initiative on demonetization.
I am a hardworking sincere person. I earn for a living and to support my family, because of demonetization me and my family suffered without any cause. This man freezes our transactions to a minimum of 2000 and what not. Who was he to do it, By law it is not permissible unless a person is held guilty by law agencies.
Because of one man 100 innocent died standing in queue. How come once company made 160000 times profit during demonetization, Where is the black money, what happened to panama papers. These statistics have to shown after demonetization. Even now they are misleading crores of people with data not important to Aam Admi.
Dinesh Gundu will soon be under police custody
Nobel prize winner praised Modi for demonetisation and digital India and later he confessed he told wrong after knowing that Modi banned old 100&500 notes and implemented 2000 rupees notes..
I can say Modi is the best intelligent person in the world. And he should get business man of the year award.
Because,
1. Modi made huge benefit to Paytm (paytm ceo didnt do this much profit for his company)
2. Modi made profit to the private agency which made/maintaning aadhar things.
3. Modi made profit to Jio
4. Modi made profit to big companies by implementing demonetisation and GST (same time it affected badly on small scale retailer shop)
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