Agitating Patels are resorting to different pressure tactics to avail reservation benefits under OBC category in education and Government jobs. The latest is ‘non-cooperation to co-operative banks’ by withdrawing deposits en masse.
The ‘economic non-cooperation’ by Patels for OBC reservation demand spread on Thursday as the community members queued up in large numbers at a bank to withdraw money.
Patidars have great sway in co-operative banking sector of Gujarat. Patidars have not only controlled co-operative banks, but they also formed large chunk of depositor base in these banks too.
“It is just the beginning. The idea is to warn the Government to consider our demand. Patels are withdrawing deposits in restrained manner. If the call would be given to withdraw all the deposits, the State’s co-operative banking sector would be easily paralysed in a week’s time,” said an activist closely working with Patidar Anamat Andolan Samiti (PAAS) convener Hardik Patel.
“Patidars have our seven-point agenda to the Chief Minister that include punishment to those policemen responsible for lathi-charge at GMDC Ground and atrocity on Patidars in residential areas, said the activist having financial background, adding that if these demands wouldn’t be accepted by the Government, Patels will have no other option but to intensify economic non-cooperation stir across the State.”
On Monday Patidars flocked at a branch of Sabarkantha District Central Co-operative Bank limited in North Gujarat town Prantij as part of the strategy and started withdrawing money ranging from Rs1000 to Rs1,00,000 from their accounts. Confirming the development branch manager KK Patel said that the bank received 80 such cheques in a single day.
“As the withdrawal was in restrained manner, the Prantij branch could disburse money with the help of other branches. However, if the amount would increase it can be a difficult task for the bank to disburse money immediately. The withdrawal was Rs28 lakh that day which is on higher side for a small co-operative bank during a normal day,” said one of the directors of the bank.
The next day, same happened at Kehrol branch of the bank where scores of account holders turned up and demanded to withdraw Rs9 crore within few hours. It was unprecedented day for the bank employee of the small bank and difficult to handle such a large number of ‘demanding’ customers.
Branch Manager Rakesh Mehta said that nearly 200 people from Patel community came and withdrawn money. According to Mehta, gradually more number of people started pouring in and their overall withdrawal was Rs9 crore, which was not possible for a small branch of co-operative bank and hence he could only disburse Rs10 lakh.
Not only in North Gujarat, co-operative banks in other parts of the State are too facing the heat as more number of people from the community are thronging to branches of co-operative banks in Surendranagar, Himmatnagar, Bharuch, Amreli, Jamnagar and Junagadh.
Some of the high net worth individual like Kanti Patel of Vadodara, who withdrawn Rs10 lakh said that he responded to the call given by the community leaders for the good cause.