The Hindu : Bank employees' Parliament march on Nov. 27

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Thursday, Nov 07, 2002

Southern States

Southern States - Kerala

Bank employees' Parliament march on Nov. 27

By Our Staff Reporter

KOLLAM Nov. 6. Over 50,000 bank employees will march to Parliament on November 27 demanding stringent action against those who had defaulted in paying back the loans taken from various banks.

At a press conference here today, the leaders of the All Kerala Bank Employees Federation (AKBEF) called upon the Central Government to take serious steps in retrieving the Non-Performing Assets (NPA) even if it meant initiating criminal proceedings against the defaulters.

The AKBEF district secretary, M.M. Ansari, and the president, V. Sudeshan, said that the bank employees had launched a campaign for the same and that 3.5 crore signatures endorsing criminal proceeding against the defaulters would be collected from the general public and submitted to the submitted to the Central Government. They said that the NPA volume in the country had touched more than Rs.1,00,000 crores.

At the national level about 12,000 defaulters account for an NPA figure of Rs. 80,000 crores.

These defaulters fall under the category of those who had taken a loan of Rs. 1 crore and above. In Kerala, there are 215 such defaulters coming under the accounting for an NPA of Rs. 934 crores. "Such default means looting the wealth of the nation,'' they said.

The AKBEF leaders said that most of these defaulters were in a position to comfortably clear the dues. However, they were deliberately avoiding repayment by exploiting the loopholes in the law.

On the other hand the NPA figure keeps swelling by the day thereby having an adverse effect on the health of the banks and hampering the various developmental activities of the nation in which the banks should play a role. The paradox is that while the common man accounts for 70 per cent of deposits, the lion's share of the advances were taken by big companies.

The signature campaign in Kollam would be inaugurated tomorrow by the District Panchayat president, K. Devaki, tomorrow morning at Kadappakada junction here.

Printer friendly page
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Southern States

Stories in this Section

Relief to plantation sector

Antony to attend Cong. CMs' meet

Bank employees' Parliament march on Nov. 27

Private parties to run six PWD rest houses

Meningitis: 7 more admitted to hospitals