Jaisalmer: Account holders at Jaisalmer Central Cooperative Bank, which has been facing liquidity problems for an extended period, have been unable to withdraw their fixed deposits and savings, or to access funds from govt schemes like NREGA and Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana, which are directly deposited into bank accounts. After visiting the bank repeatedly for the past 15-20 days, the patience of the account holders ran out on Thursday, and in frustration, they locked up the bank to express their protest.Dozens of men and women, along with children, arrived at the bank in the morning to withdraw their money, only to be told by bank employees that there was no cash and the server was down. Frustrated by this daily routine, people sat down within the bank premises and later locked the bank’s doors.Several account holders, including Amrit Singh from Jamda village, accused the bank of corruption, stating that funds from govt schemes are not being released to account holders. A disabled woman, Hemlata, said she had been visiting the bank for days to withdraw her savings, but was repeatedly told the server was down. Another woman, Shanti, showed her withdrawal form for Rs 2,700, money she could not withdraw due to lack of cash at the bank.Mani Khan from Sam area said the bank had kept using the server issue as an excuse. Another villager, Jugatram, said Rs 70,000 from PM Awas Yojana had been deposited into his account but he could not withdraw it due to the bank not having cash.The bank’s managing director, Ompal Singh, acknowledged the severe liquidity issues and the inability to pay out the public’s deposited funds due to lack of cash. He said the demand for withdrawals far exceeds the available cash. He explained that the bank is unable to recover crores of rupees loaned to farmers and others, with over Rs 100 crore classified as NPA.
