The demonstrators then went to the office of district collector Ashish Gupta and asked him to give the memorandum to the MD. Former MLA Sang Singh Bhati and other leaders became annoyed when Gupta simply kept sitting in his chair. They came out of his chamber without giving the memorandum and said they had told the district collector that if complaints against the bank were not resolved by August 12, then the BJP along with thousands of farmers would gherao his office.
The demonstration was called over reports that that the staff at the bank’s branch in Pokhran had embezzled Rs 50 lakh by showing loans in the names of dead persons. The demonstrators demanded that the bank immediately refund the money that farmers had put in deposit schemes. They also demanded that the bank approve their GSS loans along with depositing the 7% subsidy given by the government in their GSS accounts.
Another demand was an inquiry into the bank’s alleged financing of luxury cars, BJP’s district president Chandra Prakash Sharda said. He said that in the memorandum it was stated that when public representatives go to meet the MD of the bank, then fake cases are lodged against them. The subsidy given by the government has also not been given to cooperative societies since 2013, he said.
He added that the district collector did not even stand when the zila pramukh went to him to submit the memorandum. “It clearly shows that the collector is working on the directions of the Congress government,” Sharda said.
