Privatisation: Public bank employees on 2-day strike

KOLKATA: Employees of public sector banks on Thursday went on a nationwide two-day bank strike to protest against the Central government's decision to privatise several banks in the country.

"The strike is for the people, by the people and of the people. The two-day bank strike is for the common people so that they should not suffer in the long run," said Soumya Datta, general secretary of All India Bank Officers' Confederation (AIBOC).

Datta reiterated that if the public sector banks are privatised then the common people will not be able to have access to these banks in the long run due to high rate of maintenance charge. Ordinary people will not have access to private bank due to different terms and conditions.

There are 44 crore Jhandhan Bank Accounts. About 97 per cent of these accounts have been opened in public sector banks. There are one crore Self Help Groups (SHGs) in the country. About 80 per cent of these SHGs are financed by public sector banks at an interest rate of three percent (average) per anum. In the case of private banks, the interest

rate is almost three per cent per month.