PANJIM: Congress has equated the crisis in the Punjab and Maharashtra Co-operative (PMC) Bank to the multi-crore Punjab National Bank (PNB) fraud while demanding that First Information Report (FIR) be registered against the PMC directors.

Addressing a press conference in the capital on Sunday, party’s national spokesperson Gourav Vallabh alleged that withdrawal limit imposed on the PMC account holders is a systemic failure of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI). In view of this restriction, the party has further demanded that withdrawal limit should also be lifted.

“The recent RBI action on the PMC Bank seems to be a systemic failure rather than an Individual Bank failure. This action has placed scores of depositors in the lurch and their hard-earned money is now under threat. Moreover, the swift manner in which the RBI decided to restrict withdrawals initially to Rs 1,000 per depositor over a period of 6 months and then increasing the same to Rs 10,000 seems to suggest that RBI is clueless as to what the real issue is,” he said.

Vallabh sought to know whether the situation is only restricted to the co-operative banking system or entire financial service industry and if this crisis is not going to affect the entire financial system. “What was the regulator doing despite guidelines clearly indicating a very strong role of the regulator in handling the operations of the financial system including the co-operative banking system which forms a major part of the banking system in the country and has for long fostered financial inclusion in a big way,” he questioned.

Citing that PNB fraud’s perpetrator Nirav Modi escaped the country before the investigating agency launched a probe; Vallabh demanded that FIR against the PMC directors be immediately registered to avoid embarrassment like in the PNB case.

The other demands include that removal of withdrawal limit must, in special and emergency cases bank should allow customers to withdraw their money held in deposits and housing societies should be allowed to use their funds parked in PMC Bank.

The party took a dig at the “Howdy Modi” event held at the United States stating the country is reeling under “Howdy Unemployment”, a situation which increases month after month.  The overall falling economy, he said, has also added to the woes of the people as well as various sectors including the automobile, etc.