A leading union of bank employees has asked the government to ensure the safety of people's money in banks and demanded strong action against those responsible for the Punjab National Bank scam.
The All India Bank Employees Association (AIBEA), which represents nearly 5 lakh bank employees, said it has launched a campaign to highlight and oppose the government's adverse banking sector measures.
"Banks are custodians of people's money. We need to ensure the safety of this money but the Financial Resolution and Deposit Insurance (FDRI) Bill is trying to remove safety of the bank deposits. It is our demand that the government should withdraw this bill and fully protect and guarantee the money in the bank," CH Venkatachalam, general secretary of AIBEA, said on Saturday.
Calling for strict action against those involved or responsible for the PNB scam, the union leader said that accountability of the bank's top management as well as Reserve Bank of India also needs to be fixed. He demanded a thorough probe by a joint parliamentary committee.
Expressing concern at the rise in Bank Non Performing Assets (NPAs), which are estimated at Rs 9.50 lakh crore, Venkatachalam said the government must take effective steps to recover the bad loans.
"The money is being recovered in the form of charges from other customers. The government must crackdown on wilful defaulters by declaring wilful default as a criminal offence," he demanded.
Janak Rawal, general secretary of Mahagujarat Bank Employees' Association, said that they would be staging a dharna before the Parliament on March 21. AIBEA aims to collect 1 crore signatures to create awareness about key banking issues, which would be submitted to the Parliament during the ongoing budget session.
