SCARD Bank depositors protest in Srinagar, seek release of Rs 183 crore

Srinagar, Sep 21: The depositors, victims of the Jammu and Kashmir State Cooperative Agriculture and Rural Development Bank (JK-SCARD Bank), coming from different areas of Jammu and Kashmir, Monday staged a strong protest demonstration at Lal Chowk, Srinagar, against the delay in releasing their hard-earned savings invested in the form of Fixed Deposit Receipts (FDRs) in the 62-year-old SCARD Bank, which is guaranteed by the Government of Jammu and Kashmir.
The protesting depositors, comprising farmers, retired employees, small businessmen, petty traders and others, said they have been demonstrating and protesting since April 1, 2025, despite approaching all dealing authorities, including the Registrar and Secretary/Commissioner, Cooperative Department, besides the concerned minister.
They said that despite repeated verbal assurances, their deposited money amounting to Rs 183 crore has so far not been paid.
The depositors said their issue was also raised by their public representatives on the floor of the last two Assembly sessions, wherein the concerned Minister for Cooperatives repeatedly assured the House that their hard-earned money would be paid within two months after the bank was wound up in February 2026 by the government, without taking the depositors into confidence.
The depositors complained that despite the issue concerning more than one lakh family members of the victims, the government was delaying the process by adopting what they described as frivolous procedures, including conducting an audit, concurrent audit, obtaining a No Objection Certificate from NABARD, appointing a Liquidator and obtaining authentication from a Chartered Accountant.
They said these procedures were unnecessarily delaying the reimbursement process and causing unwanted agony and extreme financial harassment to the already shattered depositors, through no fault of their own.
The depositors said that, unfortunately, more than ten depositors had lost their lives in the meantime due to the financial shock. They added that marriages had been cancelled due to economic constraints, children’s education fees could not be paid on time due to lack of funds and, more importantly, expenses incurred on medical treatment could not be met easily due to the financial problems.
Through the protest demonstration, the SCARD Bank depositor victims appealed to the head of the Union Territory and the head of the elected government to restore public faith in the government banking system and realise the extreme hardship being faced by genuine depositors by speeding up the process of making payment of their hard-earned savings immediately.