Devendra Fadnavis to seek relief for DCBs

Nagpur: Bowing down to pressure from all MLAs across party lines, chief minister Devendra Fadnavis will lead a delegation to Union finance minister Arun Jaitley on December 8 to demand relaxation of norms for transactions in district cooperative banks (DCBs). A meeting in this regard was held on Tuesday in Vidhan Bhavan in the presence of the chairman of the Council Ramraje Naik Nimbalkar in which it was decided to push the Centre to bring some relief for DCBs.

Peasants and Workers Party (PWP) MLC Jayant Patil had mentioned the problems faced by DCBs, in the Council, on Monday. However, he was not allowed to talk. But he was given assurance that a meeting would be conducted in this regard. “The meeting held today in presence of the chairman, co-operative commissioner and secretary. It was decided that a delegation led by the chief minister would go to the Centre to meet Union finance minister Arun Jaitley on December 8. Cash transactions have been come to a complete standstill in DCBs, causing tremendous inconvenience to farmers. About six crore people are dependent on the co-operative banks. The farmers are left with no option but to protest on roads,” Mr Patil said.

The PWP MLC alleged the state government had not briefed the Centre properly on the issue. “KYC norms are implemented in all banks.  Rs 5,400 crore in deposits has been collected after demonetisation. There were no big deposits as was thought,” he added.

BJP MLC Pravin Darekar, who is chairman of Mumbai district cooperative bank, demanded that sufficient currency should be made available for DCBs. “Today we are losing our account holders as no transactions are happening in DCBs.  The members are shifting to other banks and some accounts might become NPA. If immediate measures are not taken, the co-operative banking system will collapse completely,” he added.