Depositors of PMC Bank protest outside RBI

It was Friday furore and frustration as depositors of the Punjab and Maharashtra Cooperative PMC Bankmdashthe bank went under in late 2019mdashheld a protest outside the Reserve Bank of India RBI Fort early in the afternoonThis protest came after the bankrsquos customers held a demonstration outside the RBI at the BandraKurla Complex BKC on November 26 At that time the sentiment was desperate and sew several protestors were weeping This time there was a steely resolve ldquowe want justicerdquo they shoutedTheir main grouse is that the draft scheme of amalgamation of PMC Bank with the Unity Small Finance Bank does not have favourable conditions ldquoWe will get all our money after 10 years there is no interest on our money tell me which conditions favour usrdquo they shouted as they moved towards the Asiatic Society Library steps a little away from RBI They then gathered outside the Horniman Circle GardenDemonstrations and desperation sum up the plight of the customer PicsSuresh KarkeraDepositors stated ldquoAfter two years and deaths of depositors which have failed to move authorities we do not trust anybody anymorerdquoldquoThese are totally unfair conditionsrdquo said protestor Ratna Kumar ldquoIf we get our money back after 10 years it will go down in valuerdquo she explained ldquoValuelessrdquo shouted a gentleman ldquoWhy should we have to wait that long There are senior citizens what about them Do they know how much they have to liverdquo Cancer survivor Kishore M who has been at numerous PMC depositor gatherings said ldquoWe must have had 100 protests so far protests are fine but is anybody listeningrdquoWhy discriminateMost protestors like Deepak J and I K Singh were also simmering because of discrimination They cited other banks where intervention happened and problems were solved quickly ldquoWhy is RBI asking us to fund Unity Bank indirectly That is our money in the bank Who knows how long this amalgamation will last toordquo they asked cynicallyDreams crashDeepawali Naik vociferous protestor slammed RBI Governor Shaktikanta Das ldquofor his silence of two yearsrdquo She called the framing of the conditions in the particular proposal ldquodumbrdquo Many protestors like Rona B had sold off existing property and put the money in PMC Bank to buy other property ldquoProperty gone dreams gone money gonerdquo they said with RonaThe humiliationldquoOur relatives and friends turn away from us now as they think we are going to ask for moneyrdquo they said ldquoWe cannot pay our loans so are we going to be classified as defaulters for no fault of oursrdquo asked a woman Narender Sharma said ldquoToday at 65 plus like so many depositors we are eating at least six tablets a day No money means no medicines and no medicines means death we will die too like others who have perishedrdquoMore supportProtestors said more support from citizenry and ldquofrom politicians our socalled great leadersrdquo they scoffed ldquois neededrdquo Vidya M said ldquoMy daughter had to stop her education and get a job I wanted to buy a property sab chaupat ho gayardquo everything has been finished A bank customer Ramchander claimed his family of four had ldquoat least R 2 crore all together in the bank when will we get itAnother Roopesh S hoped for his money back for his sonrsquos forthcoming wedding There were so many with their spirit crushed and lifeblood literally leached out of them The combative slogan on several tshirts worn by protestors read ldquoAata mazhi sataklirdquo in translation lsquonow I have lost itrsquo perhaps aptly as they have been brought to the brink