Banks to work normally on Sunday ahead of three-day strike
Government says public sector and regional rural banks will function as usual on September 27, ahead of a three-day nationwide bank strike from September 28 to 30
Public sector banks and regional rural banks will remain open and function as usual on Sunday, September 27, the finance ministry said in a press release. The government said the step has been taken to ensure banking services continue without any break ahead of the proposed three-day nationwide strike from September 28 to 30.
The strike has been called by the United Forum of Bank Unions (UFBU). The ministry said the decision was taken because the strike falls right after the usual weekly holidays on September 26 and 27, and it did not want customers to be left without banking services for several days in a row.
The Reserve Bank of India has approved keeping all bank branches, bank offices, ATM-linked branches and currency chests open on September 27. The ministry further said all these services will function completely as usual that day.
The press release said the main objective behind the decision is to ensure that the strike and the preceding weekly holidays do not have a prolonged adverse effect on customers' everyday banking needs.
"The interest and convenience of bank customers is the government's topmost priority," the department concerned said. It also once again appealed to the bank unions to postpone the proposed strike.
On Tuesday, the government and bank managements appealed to the unions to resolve their remaining demands through talks instead of the strike. At the same time, the government and bank managements said necessary measures are being taken to ensure essential banking services continue without any interruption.
A one-day strike was held on September 11, ahead of the proposed three-day strike from September 28 to 30. The unions' two main demands are implementation of a five-day banking week and withdrawal of the Performance Linked Incentive (PLI) scheme.
The government said that following discussions with the unions, a decision has already been taken to keep the PLI scheme on hold. However, the government said the remaining demand for a five-day working week is still under examination.
This story has published but the live thread has not started. Updates appear here the moment the desk files one.
