Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, Mar 16: On second consecutive day of the two-day nationwide strike called by United Forum of Bank Unions against privatization of Public Sector Banks (PSBs) banking services across Jammu and Kashmir remained severely hit.
All the Centralized Banks remained closed thus causing great inconvenience to people even as J&K Bank and other Private Sector Banks functional normally as they are not part of the strike.
In Jammu, the protesting Bank employees held a strong protest demonstration in front of State Bank of India Administrative Office Building, Bahu Plaza and raised slogans against the Government move to Privatise Nationalized Banks.
The protest demonstration was addressed leaders of the All India Bank Officers Confederation. They vowed to continue the struggle and put a sustained fight against the privatization move.
Harinder Arora, UT Secretary of the Confederation said that the Government move to privatise two Nationalized Banks and LIC will have dangerous consequences as it will not only destroy the entire Public Sector in the country but is also sought to ease out a strong public sector industry into private hands clandestinely. He said that Public Sector Banks are very vehicles of our economy’s growth and development. “PSBs have become the trustees of people’s savings and the repository and depository of the people’s confidence,” he said, adding that the Public Sector Banks’ contribution to make the country’s self-sufficiency is immense as they played pivotal role in all revolutions like green, blue, dairy etc.
He further claimed that privatization neither brings efficiency nor the safety. “If private enterprises are epitome of efficiency, there should not have been any NPAs from large private corporate entities at all,” he said.
Vishal Verma, AIBOC UT President and Upnesh Jasrotia, DGS SBISA, also addressed the agitating employees. They said that if the Government remains adamant on its move, the strike will be intensified in the days to come.
To register their protest against proposed privatization, the bank employees and officers, led by Com Ashwani Padha, general secretary Punjab National Bank Officers Association and convenor All India Bank Officers Association (J&K and Ladakh UTs) sat on dharna before the RBI local office, here today.
The employees’ leaders, who addressed the dharna, included V K Dutta, Vinder Sharma, K K Anand, A B Khajuria, Onkar Singh Wazir, R M Plandey, Ruby Sharma, Surna Rehman and Rohit Saini.
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