Minorities Panel Seeks Info on Cash Allotment in Hyderabad Old City

Hyderabad: The State Minorities Commission on Wednesday said it has sought information from the RBI and different banks following a complaint that the old city area of Hyderabad is being discriminated in allotment of cash following demonetisation.

"We have framed about four questions. One, whether the same amount is being allotted to the branches in old city and the new city area; whether the ATMs are being filled up at the same intervals and the same amount of cash; how many ATMs are working and how many are not working and the calibration has been done or not? and all other RBI norms are being followed or not," Commission Chairman Abid Rasool Khan told PTI.

Six banks have replied till date, saying no such discrimination is being done and that ATMs are being filled up at the same intervals, he said.

The banks also said they deputed officers to facilitate payments to the old city residents, he said.

The commission has asked banks to take special care of residents in old city irrespective of religion as many of them are daily wage earners, and also to send mobile banks.

It has also urged the banks to hold camps in localities inhabited by poor as they do not know about digitalisation, he said.

"These are the efforts we are putting from the commission, irrespective of religion, to facilitate weaker sections (to see that they get cash)... We will analyse the replies from banks... Our intention is to see that these people get the money. We are trying to do it as a social cause not as a religious cause, (we are) concerned that they (many residents of old city) are poor," Khan said.

The State Minorities Commission serves both Telangana and Andhra Pradesh as of now.

AIMIM president Asaduddin Owaisi had recently claimed that adequate bank network was missing from Muslim areas.

"In many Muslim areas, banks are not present in the manner they should be. The proportion of loan distribution is also less (compared to other areas)," Owaisi, the MP from Hyderabad, had said after a meeting at Udgir in Latur district of Marathwada region in Maharashtra on Monday.