bdnews24.com :
More than 60,000 officers and employees of four state-owned banks will work on Saturday for the 50 nominees for reserved women seats in Parliament.
The central bank has directed the banks – Sonali, Janata, Agrani and Rupali – to keep open more than 3,500 of their branches on the weekend for the convenience of reserved seat candidates, who will submit their nominations by Sunday.
Bangladesh Bank issued the order in a letter sent on Thursday following an Election Commission request, said AFM Asaduzzaman, a General Manager.
He said the decision was taken as weekend holidays merged with the nomination paper submission deadline.
Bankers said keeping open the branches on the weekend would cost them almost Tk 500 million.
Asaduzzaman said adequate security arrangements would have to be made to facilitate the candidates’ collection of treasury chalans, pay-orders and bank drafts to be submitted with their nominations.
The branches include over 1,200 of Sonali, around 900 of Agrani, 883 of Janata and more than 500 of Rupali Bank.
The decision will affect over 23,000 officers and employees of Sonali, around of 16,000 of Agrani, 15,000 of Janata and 4,500 of Rupali Bank.
A senior officer of Sonali Bank told bdnews24.com: “We land in trouble because of such sudden decisions of Bangladesh Bank. But the objectives of keeping the branches open remain unattained.”
Bangladesh Bank Executive Director M Mahfuzur Rahman told bdnews24.com that they had instructed the banks to open their branches in national interest.
He said banks were not only income generating institutions, they were service providers too. “Bank officers should remain prepared round-the-clock for offering emergency services. Our job is round-the-clock.”
The polls for reserved women seats are scheduled for April 3.
Nomination papers will be checked on Mar 11 and the aspirants can withdraw from the race until Mar 18.
Reserved seats are distributed among parties based on their representation in Parliament.
