Customers throng GTB branches

The news of the moratorium on Global Trust Bank (GTB) which had spread like wild fire since Saturday afternoon continued to make scores of customers jittery even on Sunday.

The GTB branches which carried out Sunday banking services saw long queues of customers anxious on withdrawing the permitted limit of Rs 10,000 from their accounts.

However, the degree of anxiety seemed to have diminished marginally with the RBI officials assuring the depositors via the media that their money was completely safe.

As the picture was still not clear about issues like accounts of salaried persons, post-dated cheques etc, the bank's customers continued to face severe hardship.

Shiv Shankar Reddy, in-charge of a private security agency, went to the GTB branch at Banjara Hills in the morning to withdraw around Rs 2.25 lakh which he needed to pay salaries. He was told to come back in the afternoon. His return to the bank later was a nightmare.

"What answer will I give my employees now. They have worked for the entire month and now when it is time to get salaries we cannot pay them," Reddy said.

Srinivas, an employee of APTransco, said that he had deposited around Rs 1.5 lakh six months ago. Now when he needed the money most, he was unable to get it back, he rued.

Saikumar, a small-time businessman, said that he put Rs 40,000 in the bank. He was seen asking several other customers how he could get the money back soon.

Harish Wahi, who has two fixed deposits, three savings and four recurring deposits totalling around Rs 3 lakh in the bank, said that he was shocked to hear the news after his brother-in-law informed him of the news.

"I have been depositing in the recurring deposit accounts for around eight months now for my children's education and now I am worried about what has happened to the money," he said.

"I have been banking here for the last six years. There was a problem last year too but the officials assured us that everything was safe and sound. I have money which belongs to my son," a customer said.

A woman at the Begumpet branch said that that she deposited around Rs 1.6 lakh, which was required for the surgery of a relative and now the money was stuck in the bank.

Several salary accounts of various companies who have accounts with GTB are now in a fix, as their employees have not taken out their salaries.

Narayanan an employee in a private firm said that his salary was locked up. "I thought of withdrawing the amount in the evening from the ATM at SD Road. Now the ATM centre is closed and I am left with no money."

"I have been banking with GTB for the last six years. There was a similar problem last year too but the officials assured us that everything was safe. I have Rs 3.5 lakh in this bank which belongs to my children who are working in Manipal. We rushed to the Secuderabad SD Road branch as soon as we heard the news about RBI declaring moratorium on GTB. We are utterly confused as to what to do next. Will legal action be of any help", asked K Sridhar Rao, owner of a small-scale industry.

V Sampath Kumar, a government employee, said: "I deposited Rs 40,000 as fixed deposit three years ago. The FD amounting to Rs 2 lakh reaches maturity in another 15 days. I have not received any information from the bank officials regarding my FD maturity till date. I think the bank officials know about the moratorium much ahead and hence have not sent any letter to my residential address."

B Srinivas Kumar, an auditing officer at Accountant General's office here, said that "I have Rs 96,000 in my account. Going by the publicity given by the bank, I trusted the bank and opened a savings account four years ago. Even the bank's last quarterly results were impressive and I don't know what went wrong all of a sudden. Had our cheques and demand drafts been rejected by the bank , we would have sensed danger. Now we are helpless and have no other option than to wait for RBI's next announcement."