RBI

NRI

Singh's children Naunidh and Fateh (left); Fateh with Singh's father, Kuldeep Singh

dividend

and fixed deposits

salary account

Axis Bank

Singh with his wife Baljeet; (left) his mother Paramjeet, who needs knee surgery

Satinder Singh, 42, hasn’t been able to eat, sleep or focus on work since theimposed restrictions on Punjab and Maharashtra Cooperative (PMC) Bank last week, freezing the savings of thousands of depositors.The son of a taxi driver, Singh had transcended his humble origins through sheer hard work over 20 years and had Rs 2.6 crore in savings, all of which he had deposited in the ailing bank. “I have been crying every day.What else can I do?” he said over the phone, fighting back the tears. “I am ready to wait but the RBI should end this uncertainty. They should tell us what will to happen to our savings. If I don’t get the money back I will commit suicide in front of the RBI building,” he said, his voice quavering.Singh, an, works in the oil rig industry as a dynamic positions operator. He works for 28 days straight and is off for the next 28. He has mostly lived overseas for the past two decades, in countries such as Singapore, Indonesia and Malaysia, and is currently working on a project off the east coast of India. He told Mirror would return to his home in Koparkhairane, Navi Mumbai, on October 3 and decide what to do next.“I don’t know how I will face my parents. They are aware that the bank is in trouble but they don’t know that we are doomed if it doesn’t pay us back,” he added. His 77-year-old father Kuldeep Singh, a retired taxi driver, is ill, and his mother Paramjeet Kaur is unable to walk. His wife Baljeet Kaur volunteers as a yoga teacher at Yoga Vidya Niketan. They have two children, Fateh and Naunidh, 9 and 10 years old. “I was planning to take my mother for knee replacement surgery next month. Should I tell her, ‘You can’t walk anymore until I get our money back?’ Which son can say that to his mother?” he said.Singh, his wife, and his parents all have accounts in PMC Bank. They also have shares of the bank worth Rs 40 lakh, on which it would pay them aas well, the interest from which paid for household expenses. His said his family chose the bank as they liked the professionalism of the staff and the way they treated customers. “Plus, the timings were convenient,” he said.“We have paid tax on every single rupee. This money was not collected overnight; it is hard-earned money that Ihave been saving for my children, parents and wife. I have sacrificed 20 years of my life, working at sea and living away from my family, to earn it. We will literally be on the streets if we don’t get it back,” he said.He added, “People generally avoid talking about their finances publicly but there is a reason why I have decided to speak up. I have not committed any crime by saving money and putting it in the custody of a multi-state cooperative scheduled bank. If we don’t speak up the RBI and PMC Bank will never understand the shock gave us on September 23. This has to stop. We need assurances that all our savings will be returned to us, if not immediately, then soon.”All his is left with now is a singlein. He said, “I had some savings in this account but we recently renovated our house and used all the money in it. Now I will have to run the house month to month on my salary. Should I take off my children out of school if I don’t get the money back? Till recently I had everything but today I am zero… I have that feeling, you know?” Singh said he had no idea how to go about getting his savings back. “One of my FDs has come to the maturity and I don’t know if I am going to get it back or not,” he added.