Imphal, Aug 22: Normal banking operation in the state was severely hit today as employees of all banks in the state join the nationwide strike today. Bank workers who belong to United Forum of Bank Unions a conglomerate of nine bank unions are on strike sacrificing their one day salary today to protest against the government’s proposed consolidation move, besides raising other demands.
A protest demonstration was witness today at Gandhi Avenue, here in Imphal, in front of the State Bank of India, Head Office Imphal.
PTI reports added that normal banking across the nation too was hit due to the one-day nationwide strike by the public sector bank employees today.
Services like deposits and withdrawal at bank branches, cheque clearance, NEFT and RTGS transactions are affected here in the state as well as other parts of India.
However, operations at private lenders such as ICICI Bank, HDFC Bank, Axis Bank and Kotak Mahindra Bank were almost normal.
The Indian Banks’ Association (IBA) had already informed customers that functioning of branches and offices may take a hit if the strike takes off. It had also asked banks to take measures in advance to minimise the impact.
The strike has been called by all unions under the aegis of the United Forum of Bank Unions (UFBU).
The UFBU is an umbrella body of nine unions, including the All India Bank Officers’ Confederation (AIBOC), the All India Bank Employees Association (AIBEA) and the National Organisation of Bank Workers (NOBW).
Besides, protest against consolidation move of the government, other demands include no write-off policy for non-performing assets (NPAs) of corporate loans, declaring wilful default of loans as criminal offence and implementation of recommendations of Parliamentary Committee on recovery of NPAs, NOBW vice president Ashwini Rana said.
The government should provide overtime for additional work during demonetisation, he said.
The UFBU, which claims membership of nearly 10 lakh across banks, requested the government for cost reimbursement of demonetisation to banks.
As many as 21 public sector banks control 75 per cent of the total banking business.
