Workers unpaid for Farmers Bank's liquidity crisis
Six hundred and thirty-one poverty-stricken workers of 40-day job-scheme (first phase) in 2017-2018 fiscal year in Islampur upazila are suffering a lot as their due wages were not paid by a private bank tagged with a schedule bank due to liquidity crisis of the bank.
The job-scheme started on December 30 last year and ended on February 22, sources said.
The upazila administration opened a supportive 'child account' with Farmers Bank's Islampur branch under a mother account of Sonali Bank to facilitate the workers to withdraw their wages from the bank, said Mehedi Hasan, project implementation officer (PIO).
Three hundred and seventy-four workers, including 124 women, under nine projects in Noarpara union and 257, including 85 women, under three projects of Sapdhari union were employed for 40 days in repairing earthen roads for daily wage of Tk 200 each, said Mehedi.
Farmers Bank got the workers' accounts opened individually by December, by which each of them was eligible to withdraw his/her wage of Tk 8,000 in two installments.
The bank deposited Tk 50.48 lakh for the payment of 631 workers in its 'child account' from the 'mother account' of Sonali Bank, said Farmers Bank Manager Jamil Ahmed.
As a first installment of 20-day-job, the bank was asked to pay Tk 14.96 lakh among 374 workers of Noarpara in mid-March and Tk 10.28 lakh among 257 workers of Sapdhari union by first week of April, but it is still unable to pay the money to the beneficiaries, alleged the PIO.
Asked, the manager said the bank is unable to provide the money to the workers as it has been suffering a liquidity crisis for several months.
“We have already informed the bank's higher authorities of the problem. The authorities said they will resolve the issue within a month,” he added.
Several workers including Ubir Uddin, Aklima Begum, Madhu Mandol, and Basiran Begum expressed their concern over delay in payment by the bank. They are in great need of money and facing problems to maintain their families, said the workers.
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