Members of various youth groups took out separate marches and laid siege to the regional office of the Kerala Gramin Bank at Kalpetta on Monday in protest against the decision of the bank’s Chooralmala branch authorities to deduct monthly instalments of loans from the accounts of Wayanad landslide survivors.
The protest was staged by members of the Youth Congress, Muslim Youth League, All India Youth Federation, and Democratic Youth Federation of India.
The demonstrators, who arrived in separate groups by 7 a.m., raised slogans and displayed placards, condemning the bank’s move as ‘insensitive’. They demanded that the bank write off the survivors’ loans, stop deductions from their accounts, credit the deducted amounts back and express regret at their action.
Loan waiver
After a stand-off, bank officials held discussions with the protesters, expressed regret, and promised to credit the deducted amounts to the survivors’ accounts within three days. They also said that recommendations would be made to the State Level Bankers’ Committee to waive the loans of landslide survivors and victims. The authorities said that money had been remitted to the accounts of three individuals from whom the monthly instalment was deducted.
Published - August 19, 2024 07:52 pm IST
