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Vociferous opposition:Members of Bank Employees Federation
of India
(BEFI) and other unions staged a demonstration
in front of the main
branch of Indian Bank in Krishnagiri on
Thursday, to protest against the
passage of Banking Law
Amendment Bill in Parliament. -Photo:
N.Bashkaran
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Opposition to passage of Banking Law Amendment Bill
Banking services were hit in Krishnagiri and Dharmapuri
districts on Thursday due to the strike call given by Bank Employees
Federation of India (BEFI), All India Bank Employees Association
(AIBEA), All India Bank Officers’ Association (AIBOA) and National Union
Bank Employees (NUBE) to protest against the passage of Banking Law
Amendment Bill, thus increasing the voting rights of private capital in
public sector banks increased to as much as 10 per cent from 1 per cent
and 26 per cent from 10 per cent in case of private sector banks.
The
bank unions were also opposing the merger of banks in name of
functional improvement; opposing the schemes to bail out corporate
defaulters and also to stop licenses to corporate houses to start their
own banks.
As part of the all-India strike, the
services in the nationalized banks and some of the private banks were
totally hit except in the State Bank of India. A top official told The
Hindu that though the doors of the all the branches of the commercial
banks and Regional Rural Banks were kept open, only internal
transactions took place with the help of the officials affiliated to
other unions.
Money transactions i.e. withdrawals and payments in the banks were total hit in the commercial and Regional Rural Banks.
The
cheque clearing operations were hit in the two districts, this resulted
in over Rs. 20-crore business being affected in Krishnagiri and
Dharmapuri districts.
There were 134 branches of
commercial banks including 16 Regional Rural Banks in which services
were completed affected in Krishnagiri.
Operations in
80 branches of the commercial banks and also the Regional Rural Banks
were affected, the sources said. A demonstration was held in front of
the main branch of the Indian Bank in Krishnagiri. The demonstration was
presided over by S. Hari Rao, Secretary, Indian Bank Employees
Association (BEFI). Speeches were given by R. Senguttuvan (AIBEA), K.
Agoram, State Vice President, TNGEA, and Thomas Suthanthiradoss, Branch
Secretary, AIIEA. V. Sivaprakash, EC member, Indian Bank Employees
Association proposed vote of thanks.
