MUMBAI: In the first instance after demonetisation , employees union of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) have raised concerns about the autonomy of the regulator and expressed disappointment over finance ministry’s alleged intervention in the central bank’s functioning. In a letter addressed to RBI Governor Urjit Patel , the employee union has pointed out that it is an unfortunate move by finance ministry to allegedly send its joint secretary to co-ordinate with RBI on currency operations.ET in its edition on January 5 reported that in an unusual move, the government was sending an official to RBI to coordinate the central bank’s currency chest operations.“We may assume that RBI did not ask for deployment of a joint secretary of the finance ministry in its functions, rather it is the finance ministry which has imposed itself on RBI, which is absolutely unacceptable and deplorable,” the RBI employees’ letter said.United Forum of Reserve Bank Officers and Employees pointed out that for more than eight decades, RBI has been seamlessly managing the currency system in India.“We want to state very categorically that the RBI is fully capable of being able ‘to co-ordinate the central bank’s currency chest operations’ which RBI has been performing over decades, and we do not need any ‘assistance’ from anywhere,” the employees said in the letter. This latest backlash comes in the backdrop of severe cash crunch in the economy with the government banning old Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes on November 8 last year.Since then, RBI has faced criticism from multiple quarters including former RBI governors Manmohan Singh, YV Reddy and Bimal Jalan, over policy flip-flops and handling of the entire demonetisation exercise.“Its (RBI) autonomy and image have been dented beyond repair, such critics include even former RBI Governors,” the employees said in the letter addressed to Patel.“An image of efficiency and independence that RBI assiduously built up over decades by the strenuous efforts of its staff and judicious policy making has gone in to smithereens in no time.”The employees requested the RBI governor to urgently do away with this “unwarranted interference” from the Ministry of Finance. “Apart from showing RBI operations and its gigantic performance in poor light, the government now blatantly encroaches on its jurisdiction, which we state strongly, we cannot accept.”