While the State Government apparently attempts to appease a particular community among others, by announcing a holiday on the occasion of Karva Chauth on Wednesday, the Industries Association of Uttarakhand (IAU) has strongly criticised such declaration of bank holiday stating that the commercial and industrial enterprises in the State are facing financial and economic loss due to this.
In an official statement issued on Wednesday, the IAU chief Pankaj Gupta said that the declaration about all banks remaining closed on this day became known on reading the newspapers in the morning.
Business and industrial enterprises have to bear financial loss due to banks being being closed without any prior information. He stated, “An emergency meeting of the IAU was held with industrialists and entrepreneurs expressing disappointment while questioning the reason for declaring such holidays considering the fact that the calendar of bank holidays is issued at the start of the year. Those attending the meeting also expressed their utmost disappointment stating that during the current peak business period when various types of transactions are held through banks the banks were declared closed hastily without any advance information. This causes considerable difficulties for enterprises in the commercial and the industrial sectors. It was also pointed out that the companies from where goods are dispatched with a time-limit also being fixed for it. However, the abrupt declaration of the bank holiday caused delay in payment due to which the interest and financial penalty will also have to be borne by the industrialists. This will amount to thousands of rupees especially for enterprises in the paper industry, plastic and steel industry.”
The IAU president went on to say that on the one hand the government wants businessmen and industrialists to make all their transactions through banks while on the other hand bank holiday is declared without any prior information being provided. If advance information is provided about the bank being closed, the industrialists can make alternate arrangements to avoid any inconvenience, he added. It was decided in the meeting that the State Government will be requested to ensure that such instances do not take place in the future.