'Benaras' not bankable for depositors!

By T. Lalith Singh

HYDERABAD, OCT. 4. After the Krushi Bank, it's now the turn of Benaras State Bank depositors to spend sleepless nights. They are in a quandary what with the bank management refusing withdrawal money from their accounts for the last nine days.

Worried depositors have been flocking to the bank's only branch in the State located at Narayanguda but the unlisted private bank has not been allowing any transactions citing instructions from the Reserve Bank of India. "A single withdrawal of not more than Rs. 1,000 is being allowed irrespective of the amount you have in the account," a depositor lamented. Another depositor having Rs. 7 lakhs with the bank claimed he could withdraw only Rs. 1,000 in the last few days. "All post-dated cheques issued to the clients are rejected by the bank. I am in a financial mess," he bemoaned.

The bank has its head office at Varanasi with 105 branches spread across nine States. The Narayanguda branch here was opened in 1997 and it has more than 2,000 accounts with deposits to the tune of Rs. 3.3 crores. When contacted, the bank authorities said they were under the RBI instructions issued under Section 35(A) of the Banking Regulation Act, 1949, directing them to stop all transactions except allowing withdrawal of Rs. 1,000 and that too only once by the account holders.

"All the 105 branches of our bank are operating in the same manner strictly under the directions of the RBI issued on September 25," said the bank's senior manager, Mr. S.K. Sinha. With the anxious depositors making frantic enquiries and gathering in sizeable number near the bank, the officials are worried too.

"The depositors' anxiety is understandable after what has happened with some of the cooperative banks here recently. But, they should understand we are just following the RBI directive," Mr. Sinha explained. The RBI decision was said to have resulted from the bank's negative capital adequacy ratio.

Apprehending trouble from depositors, the bank officials have sought the help of the Narayanguda police. "We have posted constables for the first few days. But, there has been no trouble thus far," the Narayanguda Inspector, Mr. Ram Mohan, said. No complaint has been filed till now.

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Section  : Southern States
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