Banking activities paralysed in Salem, Namakkal
Officers and employees of banks under the banner United Forum of Bank Unions staged a demonstration in Salem on Tuesday.E.Lakshmi NarayananE_Lakshmi Narayanan;E_Lakshmi Narayanan
The regular banking activities were paralysed in the Salem and Namakkal districts, thanks to the all India strike by bank officers and employees on Tuesday to highlight charter of demands.
The strike was called by the United Forum of Bank Unions (UFBU).
The UFBU demanded the Centre and the Reserve Bank of India not to privatise the successfully functioning public sector banks and not to merge the existing banks, take effective steps for the collection of non-performing assets (NPA), not to pass the burden of NPA on the bank customers. The UFBU also opposed the Centre’s move to reduce the interest rate on the savings bank accounts.
The striking bank officers and employees, including women, staged a demonstration in front of the main branch of the State Bank of India in the city.
K. Swaminathan, president of the Salem district unit of the UFBU, led the agitation. The participants raised slogans in support of the demands.
S. Sampath (AIBEA), Balaji (AIBOC), Manikandan (NCBE), Deenadayalan (BEFI) and Nagarajan representing bank retirees spoke on the occasion highlighting the demands.
The UFBU members staged a demonstration in front of the Bank of Baroda branch in Namakkal.
The agitating bankmen said that the huge NPAs were harming the country’s economy. Instead of taking steps for the recovery of NPAs, the Centre and the RBI were involved in merging the PSU banks and privatising them. They also demanded posting of adequate staff in the bank branches.
K. Kannan, convener of the Namakkal district unit of the UFBU, led the agitation. Venkatasubramaniam (AIBEA), Kumarasamy (AIBOC), Hemas (NCBE), U. Perumal (BEFI), Umarani (AIBOA) spoke highlighting the demands.
Services hit in Erode
Transactions to the tune of Rs. 400 crore were affected as over 2,100 employees of 325 public sector bank (PSB) branches went on strike protesting against the Central Government’s proposed consolidation move, besides demanding fulfilment of their various demands here on Tuesday.
All the branches remain closed in the district affecting the services. Companies faced the heat as transactions like cheque clearance could not be carried out.
Employees of various PSBs under the banner United Forum of Bank Unions staged a demonstration outside the State Bank of India main branch near Veterinary Hospital in the city. Led by its district coordinator S. Ganesh, protesters said that banks needed Rs. 1.70 lakh crore equity where as the government had given only Rs. 70,000 crore in the past five years.
The government had directed all the PSBs to mobile Rs. 1 lakh crore from stock market, they added.
“It is nothing but, a move to privatise the nationlaised banks,” they added.
The members raised voice against the consolidation move of the government as it would affect employees and also the customers.
They said that non-performing assets (NPAs) of the banks had increased from Rs. 40,000 crore in 2008 to Rs. 8 lakh crore now and added that it would result in poor performance of the bank.
The protesters urged the Centre to drop the privatisation and consolidation move, strengthen the public sector banks, take stringent action against persons who wilfully refuse to repay the loans, stop write-off bad debts of large companies and not pass on the bad debts of the bank to its customers.
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