LUCKNOW: Banking services in the state capital remained paralysed on Friday , as bank employees went on a day strike in protest against privatisation and merger of banks. The worst affected were the businessmen and traders, who could neither deposit cash not get their cheques cleared. The total transaction affected in Lucknow alone was reported to the tune of around Rs 500 crore. The strike was called by the United Forum of Bank Unions (UFBU), an umbrella body of the unions of all hues in the banking industry. It held two rounds of talks (on Monday and Friday) with N K Prasad, chief labour commissioner, Union ministry of labour in the presence of representatives of the Indian Banks Association (IBA) in Delhi. However, the talks did not yield any result forcing the UFBU to go ahead with a day's strike called in support of various demands. A memorandum containing 21 demands was submittedtotheIBA atthetime of serving the strike notice. Convener of the forum, Y K Arora said that the employee have been forced to go on a strike. "All talks with the management and government have not bore desired results," Arora said, while speaking to reporters on Friday. About 10 lakh employees of public, private and foreign banks took part in the stir to protest, among other things, disinvestment in public lenders, mergers and acquisitions and outsourcing of routine activities in the banking industry, forum members said. Members of the forum also said that issues like pension schemes for the bank employees have been pending with the government and the management. "We look forward for a proper response," Arora said. Thankfully, people were still able to use the automated teller machines (ATMs). Bank officials said that they had made enough arrangements so that people do not face any problem. However, servicing of ATMs and correction of faults remained unattended.
TOI
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