Uttarakhand residents hassled as bankers go on strike

By:
Akhilesh Budakoti
DEHRADUN: Residents in Dehradun and other parts of the hill state had a tough time as employees of public sector banks remained on strike against the proposed merger of banks.
According to United Forum of Bank Unions (UFBU), customer transactions worth up to Rs 500 crore were affected due to the strike in Uttarakhand alone.
Nearly 16,500 bank employees working in 1,650 branches across the hill state boycotted work and participated in the strike.P R Kukreti, state secretary of All India Bank Officers Confederation, said, “On a daily basis checking clearance of nearly Rs 500 crore is getting affected in Uttarakhand.”
Besides, banking operations, ATM services were also affected by the strike as most machines ran out of cash at several places in Dehradun. Suraj Thapli, a resident of Garhi Cant, told TOI, “I am in urgent need of cash to pay bills at the hospital but since all the ATMs in my area went dry, I have been wandering here and there since morning in search of cash. The authorities should have prepared in advance to tackle such a crisis.”
There are nearly 250 ATMs in the city and most of them had a sign of ‘no cash’ placed on their doors. While most of the kiosk remained cashless, the ones with money witnessed huge rush. People were seen standing in long queues outside ATM at prominent commercial places such as Astley Hall, Clock Tower and Paltan Bazaar.
“It is a festive season so I came to shop at Paltan Bazar with my family but half the day has passed and we are still standing in this never-ending ATM queue. The situation has reminded me of the demonitisation days and it’s very frustrating. We don’t know where to go and who to blame for this?” said Vishnu Prasad, a resident of Patel Nagar.
UFBU’s state convenor Jagmohan Mehndiratta told TOI that these mergers were only to facilitate the rich business class and industrialists and the move was not in the general interest of the public.
“These mergers will not do any good to our economy but will only help the big corporate houses. Instead of expanding banking services to all parts of the country, which the government always boasts of, they have shut our branches and ATMs, thus ending our livelihood.”
Meanwhile, the unions have threatened to go on a major strike again if their demands are not met in the near future.
In the past six days, banks have remained closed for five days on account of three holidays plus strikes by All India Bank Officers’ Confederation (AIBOC) on Friday (December 21) and the latest one by United Forum of Bank Unions (UFBU). The closure of banks during festive season for such a long duration has caused great public inconvenience.