Account holders throng GTB branches

 Two days after the government placed Global Trust Bank (GTB) on a three-month moratorium, customers across cities - Bangalore, Chennai and Kolkata - have been thronging its branches to withdraw the permitted Rs 10,000 despite being assured by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) that their deposits were safe.

Bank officials had to face a volley of questions from account holders about the safety of their deposits as soon as they arrived at the premises.

"I know that RBI has issued a guarantee that the money is safe. Then why the limit to withdraw only Rs 10,000," asked Bangalore-based account holder Vinod Kumar.

"This is absurd. Shouldn't there be a warning to us by the RBI that the bank is fudging its accounts," a fuming account holder from Bangalore said.

Compared to the panic shown by customers in the last two days, things have improved today, officials said.

Though the RBI assured adequate cash at all branches for permitted withdrawals, officials at a branch told PTI they were yet to receive guidelines on allowing withdrawals for Rs 1 lakh for emergency purposes like marriage, children's education and medical expenditure.

According to a bank official in Kolkata, though many account holders had come out of sheer curiosity, others wanted to withdraw the amount as permitted by the RBI.

"We are not much worried since the government has assured that our deposits with the bank are safe, but I want to withdraw money for my day-to-day expenses," said T Chatterjee, who was waiting outside a bank branch in Kolkata.