BAREILLY: Bank employees' unions have stepped up their demand for action against BJP MLA Kesar Singh Gangwar for allegedly confining and assaulting a manager of Bank of Baroda here. RN Melhotra, president of Bank of Baroda Grameen Bank Employees' Union said they have decided not to promote any government schemes for financial inclusion and other banking initiatives in protest."The idea is to hit the government where it hurts. We will derail the government's promotion of its pilot schemes through banks. We have also been seeking support from other bank unions on this. A sustained protest will continue till the MLA is punished," Melhotra told TOI. The union is planning agitations, including a motorcycle rally and candle marches spread over several days to bring their demand to the government's attention.A candle march was also organised by bank employees in Bareilly demanding quick and strict action against the MLA. Scores of bankers assembled at DD Puram crossing in the evening in an attempt to step up protests against Gangwar, against who an FIR has already been filed for assaulting manager Harish Singh Hyanki "This trend is dangerous as there have been several instances of lawmakers putting undue pressure on bankers citing lackadaisical attitude of the latter. Bank employees' commitment to their work is unmatched, but still they continue to be at the receiving end," regional manager at BOB Grameen Bank GC Pandey told TOI.Meanwhile, some Muslim clerics have supported MLA Gangwar in the matter, announcing an agitation of their own if any action is taken against him. "He has always worked for the interests of the poor and minorities," Maulana Shahabuddin Razvi, the city's top Muslim cleric told TOI. Terrorised staffers of the Bank of Baroda's rural branch at Dalelnagar in Nawabgunj had already applied for a transfer. The manager was allegedly beaten up by Gangwar, BJP MLA from Nawabganj, on Wednesday and an FIR was registered against the legislator on Thursday.According to a written complaint filed by Hyanki, the MLA stormed into the bank with his aides and directed him to release certain funds deposited into a farmer's savings account."The MLA's query pertained to a loan defaulter, whose account was frozen after he failed to pay multiple installments of his Rs 50,000 loan. There was no way we could have released funds from his savings account. I tried explaining this to the MLA, but he insisted that I release the money," Hyanki wrote in his complaint.

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