Pune: Angry customers hold sit-in protest at SBI Pimpri branch, police called in

At 10 am on Friday, nearly 200 people had queued up outside the bank to withdraw cash. Around 10.30 am, bank employees announced that they will dispense only Rs 2,000 per person due to shortage of cash. With ATMs running dry across the town, people started protesting vociferously and demanded that a withdrawal of at least Rs 5,000 per person should be allowed.

By 10.45 am, tempers started running high as the bank refused to open its main gate. The restive crowd refused to budge from the spot or accept tokens from bank officers, remaining firm on their demand for Rs 5,000 withdrawal limit per person. Some of them claimed they had not been allowed to withdraw money even for a wedding in their families. Soon, the crowd started raising slogans against bank employees, claiming they were responsible for the cash shortage, while some protesters also raised slogans against the central government.

An elderly man claimed that bankers have “conspired to defame the Prime Minister”, even as the angry crowd decided to hold an impromptu sit-in protest. Some of the customers also tried to pull down the shutters at the main entrance of the bank. Some plainclothes police personnel arrived soon, and tried to calm the rising tempers. They shielded the bank officers and tried to reason with the crowd, urging it to allow the bank to function.

Many of the customers demanded to know why the bank had not been able to dispense the mandated Rs 24,000 per week to its customers and why they were not being allowed to withdraw their own money.

More policemen had to be called in to bring the situation under control. They warned the loudest protesters that action would be taken if they continued sloganeering. The police even escorted some of the protesters out of the bank.

The bank finally resumed operations at 11.30 am and as a compromise, allowed each customer to withdraw Rs 2,500.

Bank officials said they have been running out of cash and were forced to put a cap on the withdrawal limits. An e-mail on the issue, to the corporate communication personnel of SBI, remained unanswered.