KARUR: Citing poor service, particularly irresponsible behaviour towards those visiting their banks for availing of government assistance, Karur Collector Dr T Prabhu Shankar on Friday issued an order suspending over 300 public accounts that were maintained in the State Bank of India (SBI) branches across the district.
The Collector issued the order after chairing a monthly review meeting with all bank players in the district, at the Collectorate.
Several beneficiaries, including PwDs (Persons with Disabilities), were recommended to the bank by the district administration for availing loans through various government schemes. In view of this, the Collector reviewed the status of the applications, including the rejected ones, in the meeting.
There, it was learnt of the case of Panneerselvam, a differently-abled person from S Vellalapatti who received approval for a loan through the SBI at Gandhigramam as well as government subsidy under the TAHDCO scheme to start a business of his own. Although the funds were allotted and approved more than a year ago, the bank reportedly failed to provide him with the loan amount. Owing to the bank’s alleged inaction, the subsidy provided under the TAHDCO scheme was returned to the government.
Commenting on Panneerselvam’s case, Collector Prabhu Shankar told TNIE, "Despite being a PwD, Panneerselvam for the past one year was made to visit the bank regularly without giving proper reasons. Also, we have received several complaints from students that the banks had tossed them out without approving their education loans.” As the SBI has failed to properly implement government schemes, was irresponsible, and didn’t provide proper banking services to government department accounts for the past one year, all the government bank accounts maintained in the SBI branches across the district have been suspended, he added.
“These accounts will be shifted to another public sector bank for better customer-friendly service," Shankar said.
The Collector went on to issue a warning to all banks stating that a review meeting will be held every month in the future, and that strict action will be taken against those banks that fail to properly implement government schemes.
As per March 2021 reports, transactions worth over Rs 50 crore have been carried out through more than 300 government accounts maintained in SBI branches across the district.