New Delhi: Employees of the UCO Bank raise slogans in protest during Bharat Bandh
The two-day nationwide strike to protest against policies of the Union government entered the second day on Tuesday. The joint forum of central trade unions is protesting against the government policies affecting workers, farmers, and people. Their demands include the scrapping of the labour codes, no privatisation in any form, scrapping of the National Monetisation Pipeline (NMP), increased allocation of wages under MNREGA (Mahatma Gandhi Rural Employment Guarantee Act) and regularisation of contract workers.
On Monday – the first day of the bank strike, the impact was prominent in eastern India as many branches of public sector banks there remained closed. In the other regions, branches remained open as officers were present but services were impacted due to many employees participating in the strike.
Bank unions are protesting against the government’s move to privatise two public sector banks as announced in Budget 2021-22. They are also demanding an increase in the interest rate on deposits and reduction in service charges.
The central trade unions that are part of this joint forum are INTUC, AITUC, HMS, CITU, AIUTUC, TUCC, SEWA, AICCTU, LPF and UTUC.
Bharat Bandh bank strike – The overall impact on Day 1
Public dealings at some bank branches were hit and public transport services were thrown out of gear in states like West Bengal, Kerala and Tamil Nadu as thousands of workers joined the two-day nationwide strike to protest against the policies of the Union government.
However, essential services like healthcare, electricity and fuel supplies remained unaffected.
Public offices, as well as educational institutions, were not impacted by the strike called by nearly a dozen trade unions.
Some bank branches, particularly in cities with a strong trade union movement, did very limited over-the-counter public dealings such as cash deposits and withdrawals.
The joint forum of central trade unions said that the bandh-like situation prevailed in at least eight states due to the nationwide strike against various policies of the government.
“There is a bandh-like situation in Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Puducherry, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Odisha, Assam, Haryana and Jharkhand,” the forum said in a statement.
According to the forum, agitations were held in many industrial areas across states like Goa, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Chhattisgarh, Punjab, Bihar, Rajasthan, West Bengal, Meghalaya and Arunachal Pradesh.
In Maharashtra, volume data from clearing houses and cash replenishment at Automated Teller Machines (ATMs) was not immediately available, though the striking employees claimed that they had a deep impact.
Workers staged protests at several places and unions claimed the agitation has had an impact in coal mining belts in Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh and Madhya Pradesh.
(With inputs from agencies)
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