Day-I of strike dents banking operations

Banking, treasury and clearing operations of public sector lenders were paralysed on the first day of the two-day nationwide strike called by the unions, which are demanding a wage revision and protesting against consolidation of banks. A last-ditch effort by the central chief labour commissioner in New Delhi to avert the strike failed yesterday.

Operations at the Mumbai clearing house were badly hit, with only 1.7 lakh cheques worth Rs 1.22 crore getting cleared today. The United Forum of Bank Unions (UFBU) Convener C H Venkatachalam said the strike has been a success all over the country and banking operations have been paralysed. Clearing operations, foreign exchange transactions, treasury operations, remittances, trading and money market transactions were severely affected.

In Raipur, the capital of Chhattisgarh, bank union office bearers claimed that the two-day strike would affect trade and commercial operations in the state to the tune of Rs 500 crore.

Sanjay Bhaumik, the general secretary of State Bank Employees Association, said more than 300 automated teller machines (ATMs) of different banks across the state ran out of cash due to heavy withdrawals in the wake of the strike. Long queues could be seen outside the ATM counters of most public sector banks.

In Kolkata, the Left-backed trade unions barged into private banks that opened in the morning, forced workers out shut down the branches. Trade union activists squatted in front of all ATMs in the state and prevented users from using the machines from early in the morning. Apart from the merger of banks, other demands of the unions include wage revision, another option for the pension scheme, stopping outsourcing.