Co-op bank crisis: Senior Sena MP warns of agitation from Wed

Concerned by cooperative banks not getting supply of notes following the demonetisation move, an employee union of such lenders today warned of widespread protest from Wednesday if the cash crunch is not resolved by then.
"Our banks have the deep network and the people at the bottom of the pyramid are with us. Despite this, money is not being made available to us," Co-operative Bank Employees Union President Anandrao Adsul told PTI.
Adsul, also an MP of the Shiv Sena that has opposed the demonetisation move, said RBI should ensure cash is made available to all urban cooperative banks (UCBs), district cooperatives and credit cooperatives within three days, failing which the employees will come out on the streets in protest.

"We will wait till Wednesday and protest outside RBI if our demands are not met," Adsul said, claiming that his union has 1 lakh members.
Asked about reports of a threat of withdrawing from the NDA government if the demands are not met, Adsul replied in the negative, saying party chief Uddhav Thackeray will take a call on that.
The warning comes a day after the Maharashtra Urban Cooperative Banks Federation wrote to RBI Deputy Governor R Gandhi to ensure its over 1,500 member-banks get adequate cash for serving the public.

Cooperative banks have a deep network and millions, especially farmers, depend on them for their banking needs.

The UCBs had yesterday said non-availability of cash is "infuriating" its customers and causing an "embarrassment" as other commercial banks are operational.
"Our member banks are facing embarrassing situation. On one side, there is huge crowd at branches of commercial banks which are smoothly providing new currencies and exchanging notes from the public even by extending working hours while on the other side, there is no queue at all in front of the branches of UCBs due to absence of legal tenders," it said in its representation.