TAMBARAM: Bank employees have decided to stage demonstrations as part of their efforts to step up protests against the Central Government's proposals to merge public banks, outsource some of its operations and change some provisions of the Banking Regulation Act, among other issues.

A decision to this effect was taken at a Tambaram-Chengalpattu Area meeting organised by the Tamil Nadu Bank Employees Federation (TNBEF) at Tambaram on Saturday. The Federation also discussed plans to mark the Diamond Jubilee celebrations of the All India Bank Employees Association (AIBEA), with which it is affiliated.

Retrograde steps

Speaking on the topic "Challenges before the banking industry," E. Arunachalam, general secretary of the Federation and treasurer of AIBEA, said the meeting was convened to decide the ways and means to combat what he termed as the "onslaught on public banks." He said the proposals put forth by the Centre on merger of public banks would not serve any purpose. On the contrary, it would only result in retrograde steps, such as the closure of branches and making access to banks more difficult, particularly in rural areas where services had to be increased and improved. The proposals on merging public banks would benefit neither the depositors nor its employees, Mr. Arunachalam said.

There were only 28,000 bank branches in seven lakh villages in India. Pointing out that the country had only 6 branches for every 100,000 people, members of the Federation said the penetration of bank branches was very low compared with similar figures in some developed countries.

The AIBEA was conducting a series of meetings all over India and would later organise protests opposite Reserve Bank of India offices.

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