Industrialists and traders of Dhanbad are up in arms against the State Bank of India’s plan to shift its zonal office from Dhanbad to Deoghar with effect from June 1.

General secretary of Jharkhand Industries and Trade Association (Jita) Rajiv Sharma on Sunday wrote a letter to all six MLAs of Dhanbad district — Jharia MLA Purnima Singh, Dhanbad MLA Raj Sinha, Baghmara MLA Dhullu Mahto, Sindri MLA Indrajit Mahto, Tundi MLA Mathura Mahto and Nirsa MLA Aparna Sengupta — requesting their intervention in this regard.

This apart, the association is also planning to write to all the MLAs of Jharkhand seeking their intervention on the issue.

Talking to The Telegraph, Jita general secretary Sharma said: “We will do whatever we have to for preventing this bank’s zonal office shift from Dhanbad to Deoghar.”

Asked why, Sharma said: “There is no logic for shifting a bank zonal office from a financially more viable and vibrant place like Dhanbad to a relatively less economically vibrant place like Deoghar. Politicians of Dhanbad must take some initiative in this regard.”

Patron of Federation of Dhanbad Zilla Chamber of Commerce and Industry Rajesh Kumar Gupta agreed: “We totally and strongly oppose the plan to shift the zonal SBI office from Dhanbad to Deoghar because for big industrial loans people will have to make rounds of Deoghar that is far away from here.”

Sinha said their campaign against the shifting plan of the SBI zonal office was gaining social media traction. “Dhanbad MP P.N. Singh and MLA Raj Sinha, and Giridih MP Chandra Prakash Chaudhary have also expressed solidarity with our campaign,” further said Sinha.