The Hindu : Andhra Pradesh News : Banking services hit by strike

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Mar 23, 2005

Andhra Pradesh

Andhra Pradesh

Banking services hit by strike

By Our Special Correspondent.

TIRUPATI. March 22. Banking operation were disrupted in Tirupati with bankers boycotting duty in response to the call given by the United Forum of Bank Unions (UFBU) for a nation-wide strike to protest against the move to merge public sector banks and hike FDI limit to 74 per cent.

Striking employees took out a procession and gathered in front of the main branch of the State Bank of India and staged a dharna amid sloganeering and flaunting of placards.

The UFBU convener and the Deputy General Secretary of the SBI Staff Union, Hyderabad, C.V.M. Krishna, foresaw a gloomy future for the entire banking industry and for the public in the wake of the successive Governments' bid to revert back to pre-nationalisation era when banks remained out-of-bounds for the poor and common man.

LIC union's support

The Insurance Corporation Employees' Union, affiliated to the AIIEA, expressed solidarity with the cause of the striking bankmen.

KURNOOL: Bank employees staged a demonstration at the SBI main branch here. All banking transactions came to a halt.

Addressing the gathering, the Forum General Secretary, V.G.S Karunakar, termed the decision to increase the capital by way of mergers and other steps as unwise saying that around Rs. 3 lakh crores was locked up because of failure to recover loans from the influential people. He said the government was planning to reduce 27 public sector banks to five to ten major banks. In the process, several rural banks would be closed which would only give scope for private banks to begin business.

CUDDAPAH: Banking services were paralysed in Cuddapah with nearly 1,500 bank officers and award staff going on strike.

Addressing the striking officers and award staff near SBI main branch here, the United Forum of Bank Unions district convener, S. Kiran Kumar, and the joint convener, Nagaraja Rao, said that the hike in FDI limit would lead to foreign firms taking over reigns in the banking sector, affecting social banking and service in rural and semi-urban areas.

NELLORE: In Nellore, all public sector banks, including some private banks, were closed and no clearing transactions took place. Earlier, bank employees took out a huge procession on the main streets of the town and demonstrated before the SBI barracks branch. The district convener, V. Ramakrishna, union functionaries -- Bhaskara Reddy, J.V.N. Krishnamurthy, Vijayakumar -- and others addressed the protesters.

Total in Anantapur

ANANTAPUR: The operations in nationalised bank branches were affected completely. The United Forum of Bank Unions staged a protest in front of the SBI main branch here and raised slogans in support of their long-pending demands.

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