Bankers on the road to save the nation

 

New Delhi: The United Forum of Bank Union (UFBU), an umbrella body of nine bank unions has called for a two-day nationwide strike on March 15 and 16 against the privatization of Public Sector Banks and retrograde banking reforms. Over 10 lakh bank employees and officers will participate in the strike. Due to the services like deposits, withdrawal, cheque clearances, etc will be affected but the ATMs might remain functional.

 

The reason behind this strike is the announcement of the budget by the Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitaraman, according to which two public sector banks will be privatized as a part of the government’s disinvestment drive to generate Rs. 1.75 lakh crore.

 

Sanjiv Kumar Bandish Convenor UFBU said, “This is a do-or-die situation for us. I urge all my fellows to participate in the strike to convey our protest to the government. The protest is not just in the interest of bank employees but for all citizens of the country. Private Banks are not in the interest of the country. We will save PSBs.” Apart from bank unions, all the unions in four General Insurance Companies will be on strike on March 17 against the privatization of public companies. Branches of private-sector lenders like ICICI Bank, HDFC Bank, and Axis Bank are open as they are not part of the strike.