Retain SBoP’s head office post merger: Preneet to SBI
In a letter to State Bank of India’s chairman, local MLA Preneet Kaur raised apprehension of Centre’s recent decision to merge all the associate banks, including State Bank of Patiala (SBoP) with the SBI.
In a letter to State Bank of India’s chairman, local MLA Preneet Kaur raised apprehension of Centre’s recent decision to merge all the associate banks, including State Bank of Patiala (SBoP) with the SBI.
She said that Centre must have taken a conscious decision behind the merger. “But I am not sure if anybody has ever given a thought as to what would be the post-merger impact at the ground level and what necessary measures need to be initiated to reduce its shock as far as Patiala town, the beneficiaries and bank employees are concerned,” she said.
She told Arundhati Bhatacharya that it would help reduce the impact of the merger if SBoP’s existing head office is retained as SBI’s local head office.
THE PRECEDENT
“This arrangement has been allowed in the case of the State Bank of Travancore, she said.
She cited that when erstwhile state of Patiala and East Punjab States Union (PEPSU) was merged into Punjab in 1956, it was decided that the head offices of the Punjab Public Service Commission, the Punjab State Electricity Board, State Languages Department, PEPSU Road Transport Corporation and those of the chief engineers of PWD, would be retained in Patiala, so that the sanctity of the royal city could be maintained.
‘NOT EASY’ She stated that the proposed merger would not be a simple an exercise and would ‘‘affect businesshouses and farmers’’.