OLD GOA
The shareholders and depositors of the Goa Velha branch of Madgaum Urban Coop Bank have sought government intervention to ensure that the bank returns the hard earned money to the people.
At a meeting held at Casa do Povo hall at Goa Velha on Sunday, the shareholders decided to petition the respective MLAs, where the bank’s branches are setup, to take up the issue at the forthcoming Assembly session and give justice to the shareholders and depositors.
Speaking at the meeting, Dionosio Sardinha informed that the bank has a total 9 branches in the State with around 66,000 account holders. “We will petition all the MLAs in whose constituencies the branches are setup and ask them to raise the issue in the forthcoming Assembly session beginning January 25, to ensure that the money is returned to the account holders,” Sardinha stated.
“I request Chief Minister Pramod Sawant to intervene and help get the money back of depositors. If not, initiate a CBI or Enforcement Directorate probe of misappropriation against the bank officials,” Sardinha demanded while alleging irregularities in the bank to favour a few.
“We are also demanding that the bank should make public the list of defaulters. Once the defaulters’ list is made public, we will be able to get the list of assets as well as the list of sureties which will make it easy to recover the money,” Sardinha informed.
Later, speaking to The Goan Sardinha informed that he has filed a case in the High Court against the Madgaum Urban Cooperative Bank in which RBI and Registrar of Cooperative Societies is made party.
“I have prayed to the court to direct the bank to pay the money of the account holders. I have also challenged the policy of the RBI which allows large withdrawals only for individuals on grounds of livelihood, marriage, education and health while keeping out community account holders like football clubs, farmers clubs, comunidades, tenant associations, etc,” Sardinha said.
Speaking at the meet, Aruna Wagh blamed the demonetization for the current happenings in the banking sector where many banks are closing down.
“Ever since demonetization, many banks are closing down putting the depositors in distress. And then, there are restrictions imposed on the withdrawal amount as well as the number of withdrawals,” Wagh said and derided the fact that the system is helping only the rich people get richer. “We will have to topple this system till then we will not be able to change anything,” she stated.
The shareholders and depositors also decided to reject the proposal of the bank officials to pay Rs 1 lakh to all the account holders.
John Viegas, organizer of the meet Simon Caiado, Gabriel Braganza and others also spoke on the occasion.
