JKB-RBI Pact No Sell-out: CM

Srinagar: Chief Minister Omar Abdullah Monday said the government didn’t sack former Jammu and Kashmir Bank (J&K Bank) chairman Haseeb Drabu and also rejected his claims that J&K Bank -RBI agreement was a “sell-out” .
Replying to a query about Drabu’s claims that the J&K Bank was going to lose its identity in the next two to three years due to the pact with RBI, Abdullah termed the JKB-RBI pact as “a win-win situation for the state government, the Jammu and Kashmir Bank and people of the state.”
He added, ““Drabu was not sacked by the government but resigned on his own.”
“RBI has not bought over J&K Bank.  It continues to be the property of Jammu and Kashmir’s people, and the state’s banker but rather than implementing overdraft facility of Jammu and Kashmir Bank we are implementing the ways and mean position of RBI,” he said.
Abdullah said the Union Finance Commission had recommended an award of Rs 1,000 crore to the state government and the provision of borrowing another Rs 1,000 crore at low interest rates from the market. “This will save the state government the interest it had to pay to the Jammu & Kashmir bank, while the bank will have Rs 2,000 crore to pump into the market. The only thing is that the J&K Bank (employees) will have to work harder now, ” he said.