INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
ATMs at different parts of the country went dry on the second day.The two-day nationwide bank strike called by United Forum of Bank Union
ended on Friday, impacting normal operations across the country
Lakhs of employees of public sector banks were on strike to protest against the proposed privatisation of banks by the government
Banks will work as usual on Saturday, as it is a working day.United Forum of Bank Union (UFBU) is an umbrella body of nine bank unions,
including All India Bank Officers' Confederation (AIBOC), All India Bank Employees Association (AIBEA) and National Organisation of Bank
Workers (NOBW).Services like deposits and withdrawal at branches, cheque clearance and loan approvals remained paralysed due to the two-day
ATMs at different parts of the country went dry on the second day.Government treasury operations, negotiating of import and export bills,
grant of loans, cash transactions, etc
were not possible and clearing operations were affected.In the three clearing centres of Mumbai, Delhi and Chennai, about 39 lacs cheque
worth about Rs 37,000 crore could not be taken up for clearance, (AIBEA) general secretary C H Venkatachalam said.AIBOC General Secretary
Soumya Dutta said that about 7 lakh bank employees across the country enthusiastically participated in the two-day strike.In the Union
Budget presented in February, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman had announced the privatisation of two public sector banks (PSBs) as part
of its disinvestment plan.To facilitate privatisation, the government has listed the Banking Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2021, for introduction
and passage during the current session of Parliament.The government has already privatised IDBI Bank by selling its majority stake in the
lender to LIC in 2019 and merged 14 public sector banks in the past four years
