Mandi bank to be merged with State Cooperative bank: CM

Shimla, Dec 6 (UNI) Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh today said his government has decided to merge Mandi Urban Cooperative Bank with the State Cooperative Bank, providing relief to those who had deposited their money with the bank.

Presiding over a high level meeting held here, he said the state government would formulate a merger plan and submit it to the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) for its approval.

Mr Singh said an exhaustive exercise had been carried at different levels by the state government to find out solutions for reviving the bank.

Assuring the depositors that their money was safe, he said people who had deposited their hard earned money in the bank should not worry since it was in safe hands.

He said efforts were on to ensure that people were given back their money at the earliest after the RBI banned all payments and deposits pending its decision.

Due to one reason or the other, the functioning of the bank had been hampered, he said, adding that the irregularities in the bank were being investigated into and all defaulters would be dealt as per the law of the land.

Every penny drawn from the bank as loan with forged documents would be recovered and deposited in the bank, he said.

He said after the merger of the bank with the state cooperative bank, the branch would be upgraded and strengthened to provide best banking services in town.

Speaking on the occasion, Industries Minister Kuldeep Kumar said several banks in the cooperative sector in the state were operating successfully and serving their customers satisfactorily.

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