Gujarat: Villagers pelt stones at bank

Villagers, who were agitated after the banks allegedly refused to dispense enough cash, protested by pelting stones at a bank branch, locking office of another bank and blocking a state highway in three separate incidents in Gujarat on Saturday, police said.

At Khimana village in Shirohi taluka of Banaskantha district, angry account holders pelted stones at the branch of Dena bank alleging that it refused to give money citing cash limit. Police resorted to lathicharge to control the crowd, a police official said. "Some account holders started creating ruckus outside the bank branch after complaining that it was not giving cash despite a long wait," said Banaskantha Dy SP Umesh Patel.

"Soon villagers gathered outside the branch and started pelting stones. Police resorted to mild lathicharge. At least two police officials received minor injuries in the incident. As a precautionary measure, the bank was locked from outside so that no bank officials were hurt," Patel said.

He said no FIR was lodged yet in this connection but police are investigating the matter. In a similar kind of incident, angry account holders locked the branch of Bank of India at Modhwada village in Porbandar district after complaining that the bank refused to give them money despite standing in queue for hours, police said.

Later police reached the village and brought the situation under control, officials of Porbandar police control room said. Agitated account holders at Dhrol town and nearby villages of Jamnagar district resorted to blocking of a state highway for some minutes disrupting traffic alleging that banks in their area were not giving them money. "Angry villagers blocked a Dhrol-Rajkot highway near Dhrol in Jamnagar district for several minutes before police were rushed to remove them from the road and clear the traffic," a police official of Dhrol police station said.