Reiterating their strong opposition to the decision taken by the state government against the Bank of Maharashtra (BoM) officials in the controversial Rs 2,043 crore DS Kulkarni Developers Limited (DSKDL) fraud case, around 200 BoM employees protested at the head office of the bank in the city.
All the employee unions have formed a forum called united forum of Mahabank unions to strongly condemn and protest against the unfortunate and unwarranted decision taken by the state government.
On Friday, Ravindra Marathe, BoM’s managing director (MD), and Rajendra Gupta, executive director, were divested of charges by the bank’s board of directors. The decision to withdraw the powers from the duo was taken during an emergency meeting held by the directors in the aftermath of BOM’s alleged connection with the Rs 2,043 crore DSK fraud case coming to light.
The employee union has unanimously decided to observe a protest week starting from June 30 to July 5 across all the BoM branches in the country by wearing black stripes on their shirts.
Viraj Tikekar, director of BoM officers association (BOMOA), said, “Bank of Maharashtra is the financial lifeline of Maharashtra state. The recent decision is treated as a deliberate effort to tarnish the image of the bank, which is well-known for working for the common people of the country.”
{{/usCountry}}Viraj Tikekar, director of BoM officers association (BOMOA), said, “Bank of Maharashtra is the financial lifeline of Maharashtra state. The recent decision is treated as a deliberate effort to tarnish the image of the bank, which is well-known for working for the common people of the country.”
{{/usCountry}}He added, “All the loans in the DSK cases were made through a legal process. In fact, the bank has also initiated the process of recovery. However, the state government acted in an unlawful manner when they arrested our top officials for making a commercial decision.”
The behaviour of the government is wrong and totally unacceptable, added Tilekar.
The union also demanded an apology from the state government for damaging the reputation of one of the most reputed banks in the state.
Rajeev Tamane, another member of BOMOA, said, “As far as this case is concerned, where bank officials have been taken into police custody and are subjected to action, is inexplicable and has resulted into anger and anguish throughout the financial world.”
Accusing the state government for its autocratic behaviour, Tamane said, “If needed, we will approach all the higher authorities, including the Reserve Bank of India and the central government.”
Under all the circumstances, we will stand by all our officials in our fight against the state government, added Tamane.
The union has decided that if the board and department of financial services authorities do not take due cognisance of the feelings and protest of employees of the bank, a meeting of the united forum will be organised on July 6 at the bank’s headquarters in Pune to decide the further course of action.
All the employees working in and around Pune city and representatives from all parts of the country will be attending the meeting, added Tamane.