The All India Bank Employees Association (AIBEA) has urged the Government to put forth an effective mechanism to deal with high volume defaulters.

Á national banking policy and a national credit policy is the need of the hour,' said the AIBEA General Secretary C H Venkatachalam.

He was in the city at the 8th State Conference of Canara Bank Employees Union. This two day conference, which took off this morning, saw huge number of women cadres attend the event.

Stressing the need for an early settlement of the wage talks, the AIBEA General Secretary said, ''It has remained inconclusive for over two years now. Now that the new Government has assumed charge at the Centre, we hope it will be resolved soon'.

Reverting to the rising incidence of corporate loan defaulters, he said, ''Wilful default of bank loans should be made a criminal offence. In the name of recovery, banks sell the assets of wilful defaulters and cover up. Instead, why can't they be penalised and put behind bars?' He stressed the need for an effective mechanism to deal with such defaulters.

'Such defaulters should not be allowed to hold office of public interest or contest in elections,' he said, adding ''the Banking Regulator should publish the list of such loan defaulters. Over Rs 5.65 lakh crore of public funds is locked as NPAs'.

The AIBEA has called upon the bank employees to observe July 19 as All India Day by holding demonstrations, processions, rallies and so on.

'We will press our demand for early settlement of wages, stress the need to make wilful default of bank loans a criminal offence, publish the list of such corporate defaulters, emphasise the need to lend more to priority sectors like agriculture, education, small and medium businesses and rural development, open branches in unbanked areas, desist privatisation of public sector banks and bring all private banks into public sector fold, and oppose bank merger,' he said, highlighting the demands.

‘If the RBI or Government fail to pay heed to our demands, the AIBEA will give a call to its members to strike at short notice,' Mr Venkatachalam said.

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