People of all walks of life formed a human chain in Rajshahi city on Thursday protesting against the government’s move to merge the state-owned BASIC Bank with the private-run City Bank.

Over 200 people under the banner of Rajshahi Rakkha Sangram Parishad formed the human chain at the zero point of the city where 30 others social and cultural organisations joined by expressing solidarity.

Addressing the programme, the speakers said that the move to merge five weak banks with other banks was totally unacceptable.

Rajshahi City Corporation Councillor Rojob Ali said that BASIC Bank was established with the aim of flourishing the cottage industries in the country.

A good number of people, especially poor and marginalised women became self-sufficient by taking loans from the bank at lower interest rate, he added.

‘If the state-owned BASIC Bank is merged with a private commercial bank, it will affect the economy of the northern region, which is already lagging behind from other parts of the country’, he said.

Liakat Hossain, editor of Rajshahi-based newspaper daily Sonali Sangbad and president of Rajshahi Silk Owner Association, said that the board of directors of almost all the state-owned banks were responsible for the banks becoming bankrupt or falling into an economic crisis.

‘The board of directors have smuggled thousands of crores of money abroad from the country. Instead of bringing them under accountability, the government has planned to merge the state banks with the private commercial banks. People will never accept the process of closing state-owned banks,’ he said.

‘The decision of merging Rajshahi Krishi Unnayan Bank, which is in profitable condition, with Bangladesh Krishi Bank, which is incurring huge losses, will surely affect the agriculture and the livelihood of the northern people,’ said Masudur Rahman Rinku, president of Rajshahi Chambers of Commerce and Industries.

They also threatened for a tougher movement if the government stepped back from its decision of merging the state-owned banks with the private commercial banks.

Among others, Rajshahi Chamber of Commerce and Industries director Ayub Ali and president Masudur Rahman, Rajshahi Raksha Sangram Parishad general secretary Jamat Khan, Laxmipur Traders Association president Anisur Rahman, Natore Traders Association president Moshiur Rahman, Rajshahi Textile Traders Association president Ashok Kumar Shah spoke at the event.