Banking operations hit for second day

Vijayawada: Banking transactions were halted for the second day on Thursday in the state due to the nation-wide strike observed by nearly 10 lakh bank employees. They have been demanding wage hike and stern action on the defaulters of the bank loans. Employees working in the public sector banks and some private banks gave a call for the nation-wide strike on May 30 and 31.

A large number of bank customers and traders have to face problems due to the closure of the banks for two days. As cash has not been available in ATMs for the past many days, many customers used to visit the banks to draw money. Now the customers suffered problems for two days.

Though the bank employees unions have given wide publicity about the two-day strike, many customers did not  know about the bank strike and went to the banks to draw cash on the first day on Wednesday. But, they were upset with the closure of the banks.

A large number of traders, too, suffered due to the closure of banks for two consecutive days. The bank employees have been demanding pay hike between 15 to 20 per cent. On the other hand, the Indian Banks Association (IBA) announced only two per cent wage hike to the staff.  

After many rounds of discussions, the bank employees finally decided to go on strike, said Y Srinivasa Rao, leader of the All India Bank Employees Association. He addressed the bank employees, who staged dharna near the SBI Regional office at Suryarao Pet here on Thursday.

Several hundreds of bank employees participated in the dharna and protested against the inaction of the Central government on arresting the industrialists, who evaded bank loans worth thousands of crores. The bank employees expressed their fury over the failure of the government to arrest the defaulters, who fled the country. 

Union leaders V R Krishna Mohan of AIBOC, G Syam Babu of AIBOA, R Ajay Kumar of BEFI and the AITUC state General Secretary G Obulesu and others spoke on the occasion. They demanded that the government should give pay hike to the bank employees and arrest the defaulters who evaded loans worth thousands of crores. The banks will re-open on Friday after two-day strike.