Malda, Nov. 11: The small savings agents of Malda Post Office today held a demonstration to protest against postal employees who are allegedly forcing them to pay Kali puja subscription.

The agents alleged that the employees of the post office were demanding anything between Rs 200 and Rs 1,500 as chanda.

?The persons who fail to produce receipts of the subscription are not being allowed to deposit money in the small savings schemes,? district secretary of the postal agents? association Rupak Saha alleged.

The post office employees, one of the agents said, had asked the agents to either take the responsibility of organising the puja or collect Rs 30,000 as subscription.

?When we refused on both counts, the employees began pressuring us to pay heavy subscriptions,? Saha alleged.

?Prabir Poddar, an agent, had come to deposit Rs 3,000 for a small savings scheme yesterday. He was asked to pay Rs 1,000 as subscription. When he declined, he was not allowed to deposit the amount to the scheme,? he added.

Poddar has lodged a written complaint with the district magistrate and the superintendent of police.

Superintendent of the post office Palanisami Krishna Kumar said he did not receive any complaints of forcible collection of subscription for the puja.

Asked if the postal employees could organise Kali Puja inside the office, he said he was neither ?aware of the rules nor accustomed with the culture here?.