Maha: 30K bank employees join 2-day all-India strike
Darpan News Desk IANS, 28 Mar, 2022 04:08 PM
Mumbai, March 28 (IANS) Around 30,000 employees of 7,000 branches of various government, private, foreign and other banks, including 5,000 workers from Mumbai, halted work on the first-day of the two-day nationwide bank strike, organisers said here on Monday.
The bank employees organised demonstrations, sit-in protests, processions and rallies near their workplaces in different cities and towns protesting against the privatisation of banks undertaken by the Centre.
Over 5,000 bank workers carrying banners and placards joined a rally at the Azad Maidan in Mumbai, raising slogans against the government with top union leaders like ex-AIBEA President Suresh Dhopeshwarkar, MSBEF General Secretary Devidas Tuljapurkar, Joint Secretary Devdas Menon, AIBOA Secretary N. Shankar, AIUBEF General Secretary Nandkumar Chavan and others addressing the gathering.
While lauding the employees for their spontaneous response to the strike action, they also expressed regrets to the millions of bank customers for the inconvenience caused by the two-day nationwide agitation.
They explained that the strike was not pertaining to their economic demands or improvements in service condition but to strongly oppose the ongoing bank privatisation programme, which would jeopardise the security of the common man's hard-earned savings.
The organisers further warned that if the government remained adamant and pursued its bank privatisation agenda, all the banking unions will continue to oppose aggressively through more strikes and other forms of protests.
On Tuesday, the second day of the strike, the bank employees plan to move around in the field for a public outreach initiative, connect with the maximum number of people and explain to them the dangers of bank privation, besides soliciting their support against the government's policy.
Simultaneously, the bank unions have taken up an extensive campaign to involve and associate bank depositors, beneficiaries of bank nationalisation and the common masses to join or organise tough resistance against the government policy, said Tuljapurkar.
The new limit will apply to both Indian passport holders as well as persons of Indian origin carrying the Overseas Citizen of India card travelling to the Gurdwara Darbar Sahib in Narowal district of Pakistan's Punjab province through Kartarpur corridor.
The development comes after the Samyukt Kisan Morcha (SKM), an umbrella organisation of farmer bodies, suspended the agitation after the Union government repealed the three farm laws and conceded its other demands. Subsequently the farmers started vacating the Delhi borders where they have been stationed for more than a year.
The Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) on Tuesday gave a clarion call for the establishment of a truly federal structure in the country, with genuine cultural, political and economic autonomy to states. It also announced to implement a Rs 50,000 per acre crop insurance scheme, besides commitment to revive the pre-2004 pension scheme for government employees.
In order to provide constructed houses to the economically weaker section (EWS) across the state, the Punjab Cabinet on Tuesday approved invitation of applications for allotment of 25,000 houses to be constructed by urban development authorities. The decision was taken during a Cabinet meeting chaired by Chief Minister Charanjit Channi here.
On October 3, eight people, including four protesting farmers, had died when a SUV belonging to Ashish Mishra had mowed them down on the outskirts of Lakhimpur Kheri in Uttar Pradesh. One local journalist had died in the ensuing violence.
Punjab Lok Congress (PLC) chief Amarinder Singh on Tuesday warned Punjab Police officials against intimidating his party workers at the behest of some local Congress leaders. The former Chief Minister was reacting to reports of Punjab cops stopping PLC workers, who were putting up posters in the Malwa region.
