The election of the Nashik (Maharashtra) Zilla Sarkari and Parishad Karmachari Sahakari Bank is underway. There are two panels namely the Samata Panel and the Sahakar panel that have fielded 21 candidates each.
The election is slated for 2nd July 2023 but ahead of the election allegations and counter allegations have started.
It is to be mentioned here that the Samata Panel is contesting the election under the leadership of the outgoing board whereas the Sahakar Panel is fighting as the panel in opposition.
One of the candidates of the Sahakar Panel Pramod Nirgude said, “For more than two decades, the outgoing board’s directors and their teamhave been controlling the bank. They have been treating the bank as their personal fiefdom”.
Reacting to this, the Outgoing Chairman Sudhir Pagar said, “It is wrongly said that the bank is our personal fiefdom. We are controlling the bank with the support of shareholders. We are also inducting new faces on the board. This time out of 21 seats of the board of directors 15 are new candidates and only the six are old directors”, he added.
Nirgude further said, “The bank is selling the government securities at a loss. The bank does not have sufficient amounts for disbursing loans to their shareholders”.
“We have invested 35 percent of total advances in the government securities and we are not selling them. We have put it on hold for more than a year. So, it’s a baseless allegation. We are having sufficient advances to disburse loans to the shareholders”, Pagar rubbished the allegation.
He said, “Our team is working to take the bank to newer heights and taking the decisions for growth and development in a proper manner. The bank is for the government employees and running in their interest”.
Highlighting his future goals, Pagar said, we will reduce the personal loan rate of interest as well as will give the 1 percent rebate to the loanees who pay the installment on a regular basis.
The bank has a business mix of more than Rs 500 crore and has a network of five branches in Nashik District.