HYDERABAD, Feb 24: All India Bank Employees’ Association (AIBEA) on Wednesday strongly condemned the sealing of State Bank of India (SBI) Branch in Shajapur of Madhya Pradesh on Monday by the district authorities after it reportedly failed to provide loans of Rs 10,000 to applicants under the Centre’s Pradhan Mantri Street Vendor’s Atmanirbhar Nidhi (PM SVANIDHI) scheme.
AIBEA General Secretary Ch Venkatachalam in a tweet to Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said #AIBEA strongly condemn illegal sealing of @TheOfficialSBI Shajapur branch in MP by Dy collector for alleged not reaching target under #PMSVANIDHI.
Demand immediate opening of branch and strong action on concerned authorities. #Suspend Chief Municipal Officer (CMO) Shajapur, he added.
The Magaria branch of SBI was sealed on Monday afternoon for not disbursing loans despite a camp being organised, and for operating the branch from a residential property instead of its designated place, a release from the Shajapur district administration said.
It added that Additional Collector Manjusha Vikrant Rai, Deputy Collector Juhi Gupta, Tehsildar Dr Munna Ad as well as Revenue and Police officials were present when the action was taken.
However, it was allowed to resume operations by district officials later on Tuesday, though employees under the aegis of the SBI Officers Union stopped work for the day in protest.
Mr Rajnish Chopda, the Manager of the branch that was sealed said that a memorandum had been submitted to the District Collector by the bank staff, including those from the lender”s Bhopal office, demanding suspension of the officials involved in the incident.
“The branch was unsealed on Tuesday,” Mr Chopda added,
However, the allegations were denied by the Additional Collector who claimed the sealing process was carried out as per rules and no staff was subjected to any kind of misbehaviour. (UNI)