Coimbatore: As the inquiry on the manager of Canara Bank’s Neelambur branch for irregular financial transactions gathers steam, members of 34 women self-help group have come forward to register complaints with the district administration, claiming that dubious transactions were made in their accounts as well.
The SHGs were from Kulathur and Venkitapuram villages of Sulur block.
Latha, in-charge of Sulur Magalir Kuzhu, visited the panchayat to inspect the passbooks of the SHG members. Several officials, who were in charge of the scheme implementation, collected documents from the women to check for irregularities.
Social worker K Ramamurthy, who brought the scam to light, said, “These women had requested the bank officials to make entries of transactions in their passbooks. But, the officials kept refusing, making several excuses. When the scam came out, the women approached the district administration.”
From last November till this May, the bank manager had made several transactions ranging from Rs 5 lakh to Rs 20 lakh. The money was transferred from the beneficiaries’ loan accounts to savings accounts and vice-versa. All this was done without the permission of the account holders. The scam was revealed when the bank refused to update their passbooks. After several petitions, when entries were made in 14 accounts, the irregularities surfaced.
“It is illegal to make such transactions as the government provides subsidies and loans for the development of the rural community. But, when private players begin misusing it and make such dubious transactions without the permission of the account holders, it should be punished,” said Ramamurthy.
District administration officials said that there were more than 10,000 such SHGs across Tamil Nadu and they will look into all the accounts to check for similar irregularities.
Meanwhile, Canara Bank officials said that they will take departmental action against bank manager TR Radha, who is responsible for the dubious transactions.