Mahila Bank depositors seek divine help for moratorium roll back

Depositors of the Nagpur Mahila Nagrik Sahakari Bank have turned to God for getting the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to roll back its moratorium over withdrawals from the beleaguered cooperative bank.

Prayers will be offered for eight hours a day for nine days at the 100 year old Datta Mandir in the city.

The bank's depositors' action committee (Mahila Bank Khatedar Thevidar Kruti Samiti) will chant mantras from sacred texts for eight hours a day.

"There is no hope for us except divine intervention," said committee President Ramesh Girhe. The committee has been spearheading the movement to get RBI to relax its two-year old moratorium over the bank.

RBI had imposed restrictions in 2004 after irregularities in the cooperative banks records were unearthed.

Subsequently, the bank's board was dissolved and an administrator appointed to speed up recoveries. Some minor controversies and regarding inaction saw three administrators replaced in two years. The entire board of the bank was also booked by the police on charges of breach of trust and cheating.

The administrators and the depositors' committee have been approaching stronger urban cooperative banks asking them to take over the bank, but in vain.

The problem with these depositors is that many of them are either approaching retirement or have already retired. Their entire lives savings are now locked up in with the bank. The RBI has refused to relax restrictions till the bank shores up its financials and posts better recoveries.

Besides the RBI and the Maharashtra Cooperation Department, the committee has also approached several politicians seeking their help in the issue. Now with no one else to turn to, they have sought divine intervention.

The depositors' committee has about 100 members but several hundred more turned up for the pooja on Monday. "Miracles do happen. We are just praying for good sense to prevail and extricate us from this predicament," said a depositor. "We have nothing more to lose now. We have tried everything else and they continue to sit on our lives toil. Where is our fault?" questioned another.

An RBI official appreciated their plight but said there was little that the apex bank could do in the present circumstances. "Rules are rules. We can't help them till the bank produces results," he said. The RBI has also served the ailing cooperative bank with a notice asking why it should not be closed down.