Diamond Bank staff to get 70% dues

The 45th Gujarat Formation Day turned out to be a memorable day for employees of the Diamond Jubilee Co-operative Bank as the state government agreed to pay 70 per cent of their outstanding salaries and other dues to them shortly.

A formula was chalked out by joint registrar A S Khandar, Diamond Bank chief executive officer Jimmy Kharadi and the bank administrator B C Patel. The formula was approved by the state co-operative minister Bhupendrasinh Chudasma on Saturday.

As per the formula, the 179 retrenched employees of the bank will be paid 70 per cent of their outstanding salaries and other dues within the next few days.

The bank owes around Rs 7.55 crore to the employees, which means that about Rs five crore will be paid to them.

The remaining 30 per cent, about Rs 2.50 crore, will be paid to the employees in accordance with the Reserve Bank of India directives later.

Some of the employees had taken loans from the bank. Seventy per cent of this amount will be deducted at the time of paying them the money.

Natu Patel, president of the Bank Kamdaar Sangh, said, "We are extremely delighted. We would have been happier if the formula covered the entire amount. But we welcome the decision. A great deal of the problems faced by the employees will be solved when they are paid the 70 per cent of their outstandings."

Patel said, "The employees of Diamond Jubilee Bank have also decided to complete their pending bank work so that the problems of depositors and account holders of the bank can also be solved."

The 179 employees of Diamond Jubilee Co-operative Bank were retrenched in February earlier this year.

However, the Formation Day did not bring any cheer to the recurring deposit agents of Suryapur Co-operative Bank.

The agents are agitating for over a month demanding their and small depositors' money back. They were hopeful of finding some solution to the issue during the Formation Day celebrations.

The agents protested during two official programmes on the Gujarat Formation Day, which were attended by the chief minister Narendra Modi, by displaying placards and banners.

The agents tried to meet Modi, but he took no notice of the protest, much to the disappointment of the agents.

Earlier in the day, the agents talked to Chudasma, who advised them to be patient.

The minister said the government was acting in a practical manner and asked the agents to do the same.

The agents also tried to meet joint registrar A S Khandar, but he refused to meet them. Khandar reportedly told the agents that since they had filed a public interest litigation in the Gujarat High Court, the government would give a proper reply in court.

Paresh Parekh, convenor of the Suryapur agents' committee, said, "We had high hopes that Modi would bring us some cheer on the Gujarat Formation Day. But he hardly took any notice of us. The government does not appear willing to do anything. We are hopeful that the Gujarat High Court will resolve the matter."