tna April 08, 2006With the strike of State Bank of India (SBI) employees entering the sixthday on Saturday, the Gujarat government has decided to shift all its financial transactions to Bank of Baroda (BoB), official sources said.The step has been taken so that the strike does not affect the day-to-day financial dealings of the government, an official release said on Saturday.The government will conduct all financial transactions through the 19 branches of BoB in the 18 district headquarters of the state, the release added.Instructions have also been issued to the all the concerned officials to send across samples of signatures for cheque clearance. All government bank notes from the state exchequer will now carry the stamp of BoB instead of SBI.The state government has also authorised BoB, State Bank of Saurashtra, Dena Bank, Corporation Bank, Indian Overseas Bank, UTI Bank, HDFC Bank, ICICI Bank and IDBI Bank to collect sales tax receipts, the release added.The Bihar government has tied-up with Canara Bank, Central Bank of India and Bank of India through the Reserve Bank of India for its day-to-day transactions on Saturday.Shashi Shekhar Sharma, additional finance commissioner (resources), told PTI that the decision to allow the transactions on behalf of the government through banks, other than the State Bank of India, for a temporary period was taken after a meeting he had with the RBI officials."The step has been taken to meet the exigencies arising out of the on-going indefinite strike,'' Sharma said.He said the state government had decided to allow payment of salary and pension in cash, if required, by the drawing and disbursing officers through either of the three banks in co-operation with treasuries and sub-treasuries.
