AIADMK urges Centre to stop closure of co-operative banks

Chennai (Tamil Nadu) [India], Nov. 24 (ANI): Tamil Nadu's ruling All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) on Thursday called on the Centre to stop the closure of cooperative banks in rural areas. "Our MPs' will meet the finance minister, because all of a sudden, cooperative banks have been closed, and in most villages, there are no national or private banks, only cooperative banks are functioning. They (Centre) need to take action immediately," AIADMK leader C.R. Saraswathy told ANI. She said farmers and the common man are suffering a lot and these banks should be given permission to carry out transactions. Meanwhile, in a related development, an all-party delegation from Kerala will meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Finance Minister Arun Jaitley today in Delhi to raise their concerns over the prevailing cash crunch. The Kerala Assembly, which held a special session on Tuesday to discuss the turbulent situation in the state's co-operative sector, passed a resolution stating that the union government should withdraw the restrictions on cooperative banks. The resolution stated that like commercial banks, co-operative banks should also be given permission to conduct transactions. Last week, Kerala's cooperative banking sector remained shut in protest against what it called a bid to weaken the sector under guise of demonetisation. The multi-level cooperative banking network, which has Rs 52,000 crores in deposits, is facing a crisis after the RBI banned district cooperative banks from exchanging scrapped notes. The cooperative banks are not allowed to collect the Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes from customers in exchange of valid currency (ANI)