Election fever has gripped the lone women’s bank in Durgapur where the government body election remained due since 2017.
Major political parties are locked to grab the 33-member board of the bank. Biswajit Das, cooperative inspector, Durgapur said today, “The entire 6,500 women members of the bank are eligible for candidature, but till this afternoon barely eight nomination papers have been submitted.” The figure was less than one-fourth of the required strength of the board.
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Das added, “We are expecting substantial turnout on the last day of nomination, tomorrow.”
The LF board governed the female body of 6,500 stakeholders till 2012. It has earned Rs 18 lakh gross profits in 2023-24 financial year.
The bank, constituted in October 1998 as part of women empowerment, currently accommodates 10,500 account holders. Of them, 90 per cent were women. Its entire workforce is women, except a group-D staff. The wage revision of the staff, due from August 2020, has been cleared last month, claimed Accountant Rupa Banerjee, the highest functioning official of the bank. The bank, over the months, hasn’t had a manager.
On 1 December, the bank’s pending election is scheduled where the Trinamul Congress has set to grab the board this time. Narendranath Chakraborty, district president of the TMC for West Burdwan said: “We’ve firmed up our machinery to grab control over the board.”
