The MUCB head office in Margao.
MARGAO
Exactly a month after the government-appointed liquidator set in motion the process to liquidate the Madgaum Urban Cooperative Bank (MUCB), depositors do not seem to be coming in droves to claim their deposits.
Liquidator SV Naik had granted time twice for the beleaguered depositors to submit claim forms to the respective branches, starting from September 1. A month has elapsed and hardly 10 per cent of the total MUCB depositors have submitted their papers.
The two month claim period ends on October 31 and officials are keeping their fingers crossed over the delay by the depositors, throwing up a host of questions, if the depositors are presently abroad and cannot come down to Goa in view of the Covid restrictions in many countries.
Liquidator-appointed Designated Officer Kishore Amonkar pointed out that the number of claims received from the depositors as on October 1 is 5053. Total claims issued by the various branches of the bank stand at around 10,000.
However, considering that the total number of MUCB depositors is 56,636, even officials have been taken aback by the slow place with which depositors have reacted to the process of liquidation set in motion a month ago.
“We have no concrete reason why depositors are not forthcoming to submit their claim forms. One reason could be that a sizeable number of depositors are staying abroad for reasons of employment and cannot come down to submit the claim form”, he said.
Amonkar, however, said the Liquidator will take a call on how to go about with taking the liquidation process forward after the two-month period ends on October 31.
He admitted that hardly 10 per cent of the total depositors have come forward with the claim applications as on date, adding that the bank is in the process of compiling the data.
Statistics compiled by the MUCB revealed that the bank has issued 9,993 claim applications at various branches since September 1, with Margao braches topping the list with 1,828 applications followed by Curtorim (1,700), Benaulim (1,470) and San Andre 1,250.
The statistics further revealed that the Curtorim branch received the highest number of claim applications, around 1,004 to be precise followed by Margao branch (999), old market branch (738), Benaulim (675) and San Andre (475).
The MUCB had on September 1 set in motion the liquidation for returning Rs 189.81 crore to the depositors.
SAME IS THE SCENE WITH SAFE
DEPOSIT LOCKERS OF THE BANK
MARGAO: If the MUCB liquidation process has not evoked the desired response from the depositors in the last one month, not many locker holders have come forward to surrender their lockers and take custody of their valuables within the one-month deadline that expired on September 30.
Inquiries by ‘The Goan’ have revealed that out of the total of 810 lockers, only 186 account holders have applied for surrendering the lockers and take custody of their valuables.
Only 186 locker holders have arranged for the surrender of lockers within the time-frame, leaving the liquidation officials and staff in a quandary.
As on October 1, the number of active lockers at various branches of the MUCB was 624, indicating that there still exist 624 active lockers with the bank after the set deadline.
Designated officer Kishore Amonkar informed that the bank will go about the process as per the laid down guidelines. He agreed that many a locker holder might be holed up abroad for reasons of employment or other purpose and couldn’t have come down to complete the formalities.
To a question, Amonkar pointed out that the Bank will first open the lockers at branches operating from rented premises and shift the lockers to the head branch, Aquem as per the process, after conducting the panchanama. “The lockers from the rented premises will be opened and shifted first”, he said, adding that the process will start after some time.
