Andhra Pradesh - Visakhapatnam

Money ‘matters’

With a number of private banks entering the field, banking sector has become more competitive. The staff are forced to work for longer hours and some banks are kept open on Sunday also, notwithstanding the ubiquitous presence of ATMs.

But still, the competition does not seem to have benefited the customer a great deal. There are unavoidable delays. And user charges are levied at every stage. The other day, a State Bank of Hyderabad branch collected a clean Rs.25 for transferring Rs.500 to its customer in Hyderabad.

And there are some banks which collect Rs.5 on every withdrawal and some others for issuing a cheque book. Also, the rate of interest fluctuates like a pendulum and the customer who lacks enterprise is the loser. The other day, a customer sought a statement of his account at a private bank and when the bank officer said he should pay charges of Rs.100 or more, he was surprised.

He asked the officer if he could not get it free. When the officer jocularly remarked he would get it free of cost if he begged for it, the customer literally begged for the free statement and was obliged. When the officers have the discretion to either collect charges or not collect any, the benefit should be extended uniformly to all customers without discrimination.

Remember the anecdote involving a mother-in-law and daughter-in-law over the authority that one has over the domestic affairs? A beggar comes for alms to the house and the daughter-in law turns down the request. While the disappointed beggar was leaving the premises of the house, the mother-in-law calls him back only to again turn down his request for alms, asserting that the authority to give or not to give alms vests with her!

Senior leader of the All Indian Trade Union Congress V.V. Rama Rao drew a parallel with the anecdote to describe talks that the five Federations of Port Workers had with secretary of the Ministry of Shipping held on November 7. The issue at stake is revision of wage for workers. First round of talks had failed and the union leaders boycotted the meeting. Then the secretary had called for a meeting of federation leaders, only to say that he has no authority to take a decision on pay revision and the authority to take such decision is vested with the Cabinet Minister concerned.

The Gangavaram port project, which now poses stiff challenge to Visakhapatnam port, is mired in controversies even before it was awarded to a private consortium led by D.V.S. Raju during the Telugu Desam region. Gangavaram, which was under the ownership of Visakhapatnam Steel Plant, was originally conceived as the captive jetty for the plant to meet its own requirement thereby saving a huge amount towards freight cost for loading and unloading raw material and finished products in ships at the main harbour. Later, the Visakhapatnam port had given a proposal to invest and develop a satellite port at Gangavaram. When the government bluntly rejected the offer, Visakhapatnam port even came forward to enter into a joint venture with VSP and State government.

When it was also shot down, VSP had to surrender the land in question due to pressure exerted on the UPA government by the Naidu regime. What happened subsequently is a well-known story!

(Prabhakkar Sharma, R. Jagadeeswara Rao and Santosh Patnaik)

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