RESIDENTS LOCK CASHLESS BANK
DEMONETISATION BLUES Protesters say bank officials serving rich, ignoring common man
DHURI(SANGRUR): Jittery over the cash crunch since ban on ₹500 and ₹1,000 currency on November 8, people queued up outside the Dhuri branch of Oriental Bank of Commerce (OBC) on Monday locked the premises after they couldn’t withdraw money. The protesters alleged that bank officials were attending to the rich and ignoring the common people. The tehsildar had to visit the spot to defuse the situation.
“We can see achhe din...residents have to stand in queues only to be denied cash later. The Prime Minister has betrayed the citizens and left them to die in queues,” said Rakesh Kumar, one of the protesters.
“I have been coming here for 10 days and get token daily, but could never withdraw cash. Nobody is bothered about a poor farmer...we are forced to down the bank shutter. What is the use of keeping the door open when they can’t provide us cash?” said Gurpreet Singh.
“My wife is hospitalised in Patiala and I am here since early morning. Now, the bank has displayed a signboard that there is no cash. We locked the bank as it is useless,” said another farmer, Devinder Singh.
Also, people also staged a protest against Punjab National Bank (PNB) and raised slogans against the central government.
OBC manager VR Dogra and PNB manager Devinder Chauhan denied the allegations of favouritism, saying the cash is being distributed according to the RBI norms and there was shortage. Tehsildawr Siraj Ahmed appealed to the people to maintain peace. “I checked the bank but there was no cash. The bank did not get cash for the past two days. I will talk to higher authorities,” he said.