Bharat Bandh on March 28-29: Bank services likely to be hit. Details here

A joint forum of central trade unions has called a Bharat Bandh on March 28 and 29, and groupings of bank employees are also planning to join.

The agitation against government policies that affect workers, farmers and people. This may result in banking services being hit on Monday and Tuesday.

The All India Bank Employees Association (AIBEA) said the organisation will join the nationwide general strike to protest against increased unemployment, reduced wages, privatisation of public sector banks and the Banking Laws Amendment Bill 2021, among others issues.

“The Joint Platform of Central Trade Unions have to take the frontline and decisive role to build towering resistance to this destructive and disastrous corporate driven regime,” a statement by AIBEA read.

Other central unions, including the Bank Employees Federation of India (BEFI) and All India Bank Officers’ Association (AIBOA), have also joined the protest. The State Bank of India (SBI) has issued a similar notice and announced that its services may be disrupted on the given dates owing to the bank strike.

Apart from banks, strike notices have been given by unions in sectors such as coal, steel, oil, telecom, postal, income tax, copper, banks, insurance among others. The unions in railways and defence sector would be making mass mobilisation in support of the strike at several spots, the trade unions’ forum said.

In West Bengal, the government said all its offices will remain open on those days and mandated employees to report for duty.

“It has been decided that all state government offices including those provided with Grants-in-Aid by the state government shall remain open and all the employees shall report for duty on those days,” read the state government memorandum, adding that the absence of employees in those days will be treated as ‘dies-non’ and no salary will be admissible.