Mumbai: When a dead man came to PNB to withdraw his money

Angry family members of an Ulhasnagar man barged into the Ulhasnagar branch of Punjab National Bank on Thursday with his dead body, as a sign of protest against bank officials for not giving them access to the deceased's account. The family members had been pleading with the bank to let them withdraw from his account, saying he was lying paralysed in KEM Hospital and they needed the money for his treatment. The bank had refused on the ground that the man in question being the sole holder of the account, as per rules, his signature and presence were needed to get the money.

The hearse carrying Ganesh Kamble's body was taken to Ulhasnagar branch of PNB on Thursday

From pillar to post
The account holder, Ganesh Kamble, had been admitted in KEM Hospital two months ago after suffering a paralytic attack last December. Since then, his parents had been making repeated rounds of the bank, requesting officials to give them the Rs 25,000 in Kamble's account as he had been rendered immobile and they needed money for his treatment. Bank officials, however, cited rules, saying Kamble's being an individual account, he alone could rightfully access it.

Kamble's sister Mahananda Yadav said, "My parents were travelling all the way to KEM Hospital every day for my brother. Amid all this, every few days they had to go to the bank as well, requesting that his money be signed over to them. But officials kept saying that his signature was needed. He was lying unconscious on a hospital bed! How did they imagine we could have got his sign?

"We clicked my brother's photo, of him lying on the hospital bed, and showed it to bank officials, after which they said they would have to come to the hospital to get his signature. Whatever it is that they wanted to do, they should have done it fast. Why did they take so much time for all this?"

Yadav added, "We had taken a loan from relatives to buy medicines for him. Last week, when my father went to the bank again, officials said they would come to the hospital. But they didn't and my brother died. That's why we took his body there, to show them that had they given us the money on time, we could have done something for my brother."

Too little, too late
An Ulhasnagar PNB official, Somnath Sarode, said, "We can't give money to anyone other than the account holder. On humanitarian grounds, we told them that we would come to visit the person, but he died that day. After his death, we brought out the list of nominees and handed over the money to his family."

Rs 25,000
Amount in Ganesh Kamble's account

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