Hundreds of employees participate in a dharna

Bank transactions came to a halt in Krishna District on Tuesday because of the one-day strike observed by the public sector bank unions protesting against the mergers and privatisation by the Central government.

Bank employees and officials across the country observed the strike.

The All India Bank Employees Association (AIBEA), All India Bank Officers Confederation (AIBOC), All India Bank Officers Association (AIBOA), National Confederation of Bank Employees (NCBE), Bank Employees Federation of India (BEFI) and other unions took part under the guidance of the United Forum of Bank Unions (UFBU).Hundreds of employees participated in a dharna organised at the SBI office in Gandhinagar and raised slogans denouncing the privatisation and mergers. The speakers demanded criminal cases against the corporate defaulters, who evaded payment of loans worth thousands of crores to the public sector banks.

Pro-private bank policies

Bank Employees Federation of India (BEFI) leader R Ajay Kumar alleged that the NDA government was adopting pro-private bank policies since it came to power.

NCBE leader P L Prakash alleged that the government had failed to take action against defaulters.

The employees staged the dharna till 1 p.m. and vowed to continue to oppose the policies of the NDA government. Union leaders K. S. Rao, G. Syam Babu, V. R. K. Mohan and others spoke.