Mumbai: How City Co-Op Bank is making pregnant woman run from pillar to post

Clera Aguiar, in her heavily pregnant condition, has been chasing bank officials for her money since June

With just a month to go before she gives birth, the heavily pregnant Clera Aguiar, 31, needs all the rest she can get. Instead, for the last three months, she has been running from pillar to post, unable to touch her hard-earned money deposited in the City Co-operative Bank. Thanks to the RBI's restrictions on the bank, she may not even be able to pay for the delivery next month.

In April, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) placed restrictions on transactions by the City Co-operative Bank, and limited withdrawals to Rs 1,000 per account. This was done under Section 35 A of the Banking Regulation Act, 1949, due to the precarious financial condition of the bank.

Customers wait outside the bank for news of their money

For Clera, all it means is that her money has been co-opted to keep the co-op afloat, even as she has been left high and dry. The 31-year-old and her husband had saved up R1 lakh from their call centre jobs and made a fixed deposit at the bank last September, when Clera decided to take a break from work. She got pregnant soon after, and the couple decided to use the deposit to pay for the delivery - Clera is due this September.

"In April, when the bank got into trouble, I went to the Dahisar branch to find out the status of my deposit. The bank officials told me that the problem would be over within a month, and there was no need to worry," Clera told mid-day.

Her money is not hers
In June, when things had still not improved at the bank, the then six-month pregnant woman made the journey from her Mira Road residence to the Dahisar branch once again to ask for her money. This time, a bank official said she would have to file an application to be able to use her money under a medical exemption, and even then, the money would be transferred to the hospital directly. Clera was made to visit the branch several times, and was told that RBI would authorise payment only if she provided a cost estimate for the delivery on the hospital's letterhead.

The problem is, there is no way to predict in advance whether Clera will have a natural childbirth or require surgery, thereby increasing the cost. The doctors quoted an estimate of Rs 60,000 for a normal birth, and Rs 90,000 for a Caesarian section. "How can I or the hospital tell if I will have a normal delivery or a C-section?" she pointed out.

"I had put the money in a fixed deposit so that I could use the money in times of need, but I never thought I would have to run so much to get my own money back. I should have put the money in a mediclaim scheme instead," Clera lamented.

No cash for school fees
The cash-strapped bank also left Suhas Pawar, 54, no way to fend for his kids. Suhas, a storekeeper with the BMC, has two children - Jatin, a 10-year-old in Std V, and 13-year-old Namrata in Std IX.

All he needed was Rs 15,000 to pay the kids' school fees. Although he has Rs 55,000 in a savings account and a fixed deposit of Rs 2 lakh at the same bank branch, just like Clera, Suhas has no access to the money. "I had to borrow from my friends and relatives to my children's fees. When I approached the bank, they asked for a letter from the school. But the process was lengthy and time-consuming, and I did not want my kids to suffer because I couldn't pay the fees," he said.

Bank says
Santosh Neurkar, the bank's Dahisar branch manager, said, "The RBI has put restrictions on us and we cannot directly give money to customers. For medical and educational needs and weddings, RBI gives the money directly to the person or institute to be paid." As for Clera's case, the manager added, "The RBI has approved the payment, but it will go to the hospital, not to the customer."

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