JOIN USChhattisgarh: District cooperative bank employees go on mass leave after Congress MLA 'assaults' two bank staffers
Employees of district cooperative central banks in Chhattisgarh's Surguja division on Wednesday went on a mass leave for two days in protest after an MLA of the ruling Congress assaulted two of their colleagues. People, particularly farmers, had to face inconvenience as most bank branches remained closed in five districts under the division.
Congress legislator Brihaspat Singh was caught on camera purportedly thrashing two employees of the Zila Sahkari Kendriya Bank at Ramanujganj town in Balrampur-Ramanujganj district on Monday. The next day, employees of cooperative banks under the Surguja division submitted a memorandum, addressed to Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel, to the Inspector General of Police (Surguja range) at Ambikapur, seeking action against the MLA.
They also announced that they would go on mass leave on April 5 and 6. In the video of CCTV footage that went viral on social media, Singh can be seen thrashing two persons in front of the bank branch. Surguja division comprises five districts including Balrampur-Ramanujganj.
Cooperative banks play an important role in paddy procurement and disbursement of short-term agricultural loans to farmers and money to beneficiaries of government schemes including the Rajiv Gandhi Kisan Nyay Yojna for farmers.
President of the Zilla Sahkari Kendriya Bank Karamchari Sangh Ambikapur R K Khare said that more than 150 employees of 30 branches of district cooperative central banks in five districts of the division went on leave as part of the protest. Employees also staged a demonstration in front of the bank's headquarters in Ambikapur, the headquarters of the Surguja district, he said. The All India bank employees association and district cooperative banks of Chhattisgarh have extended support to the protest, he said.
“Transactions worth Rs 100 crore got affected on the first day of the protest. We regret the inconvenience caused to customers, particularly farmers, and appeal to them to support us," he said. “We have demanded action against the MLA and protection for our employees," Khare said and warned of an indefinite strike if the demands were not met.
People were seen outside district cooperative bank branches at various places in the division, expressing dismay over the closure. Talking to reporters outside the Baikunthpur branch of the bank in Koriya district, Sheshmal, a resident of Chinguda village, said he was in urgent need of money as his pregnant daughter was admitted to hospital. He was unaware of the strike, he said.
Brihaspat Singh, who represents the Ramanujganj assembly seat, slapped and abused clerk Rajesh Pal and peon Arvind Singh outside the bank in front of hundreds of farmers on Monday. The MLA later admitted to assaulting them, but claimed that there had been many complaints of irregularities against employees of the bank which compelled him to act. He also accused bank employees of misbehaving with farmers. The main opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) demanded that Singh should be `removed' as an MLA for the violent act.