Sir,
We, the people of Jammu and Kashmir, feel pride in entering any branch of Jammu and Kashmir Bank across the length and breadth of the country and it raises a sense of belongingness to each one of us. Its unique character of only state owned bank prior to independence of India reflects historical images of its formation. The Jammu and Kashmir Bank is said to have been founded on 01 Oct 1938 under letters patent issued by the Maharaja of Jammu and Kashmir, Maharaja Hari Singh. It commenced the banking business on 04 Jul 1939 and it was considered first of its nature and composition as a state owned bank in the country. The bank has since then passed through many historical events like acquiring status of scheduled bank in the year 1971, declared an “A” class bank of Reserve Bank of India, and today it could establish a network of 935 computerized branches, around 1300 ATMs and 30 Cash disposition Machines across the country. The bank has recently been declared as Public Sector Undertaking and is now known as Jammu and Kashmir Bank Limited.
* On a visit to one of the city branch, I encountered a recent addition to the beautiful interior of the branch and could find a big photograph of Parvez Ahmed, Chairman and CMD of the bank hanged behind the official chair of Manager of the branch like many other Government offices where we generally see the picture of Father of Nation, Mahatma Gandhi or in some cases President of India or PM of India. The effort is appreciable but it would have given due respect to the founder of the Bank, Maharaja Hari Singh, the great visionary who could feel the requirement of banking in uplifting the economy of our state even during those ancient days of barter system of business. I really felt discouraged to see the only picture of Chairman and CMD which in my opinion should have found the company of its founder at least. Such gestures do bring public admiration besides serving as a token of encouragement for staff members of the bank and raising the level of awareness amongst general masses. People of Jammu and Kashmir have rich historical treasure to relish and I have no doubt that our own state bank would definitely help us preserving it for our future generations. We therefore urge the concerned bank authorities and the Governor of Jammu and Kashmir to kindly bestow their patronage and issue appropriate instructions in this regard. Jai Hind, Jai Bharat.
WgCdr (Retd) Mahesh Chander Sudan
Sainik Colony Jammu
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