Statesman News Service
MALDA/ BALURGHAT, 5 MARCH: Banking services has almost collapsed in the Malda and south Dinajpur districts subjecting people to acute inconvenience following an indefinite strike convened by the State Bank of India Officers’ association since Thursday.
The SBIOA convened the strike without notice yesterday shutting down 37 branches of the bank in the two districts in protest against the suspension of an officer Mr Subrata Mandal of the SBI Amriti branch in Malda for allegedly clearing a forged cheque of Rs 19.25 lakh issued from Unnao in Uttar Pradesh.
Tension flared at the SBI, Balurghat branch premises this morning when depositors tried to enter the bank by force. A scuffle broke out when the agitators tried to resist them. Claiming that the bank authority had declared the strike illegal and that their jobs would be at stake if they did not attend office, members of the State Bank Staff Association also tried to enter the branch office but the agitators resisted them as well.
The police had to intervene to bring the situation under control at Balurghat. According to the police the SBIOA and the depositors lodged complaint against each other.
While a depositor with the SBI Balurghat branch Mr Kamal Das alleged that the agitators had attacked them, the Staff Association Balurghat unit secretary Mr Anupam Tarafdar, said: “We tried to enter the bank fearing our service was at stake but the agitators did not allow to do so”.
Responding to the allegation, the SBIOA Balurghat unit secretary Mr Asit Sikdar said: “Some unions are trying to drive a wedge against the strike. They also tried to provoke the customers to barge in today”.
A lot of people in Malda and Balurghat including government officials, in the meanwhile were deprived of important transactions today due to the strike on successive days. While many pension holders had to return empty handed from the SBI branches, people had to draw money for medical purposes could not do so either. Since the SBI is the clearing-house for several financial institutions, the problem has started to affect various banks as well.
Meanwhile, a contradiction has cropped up over the strike among the bank employees: “We condemn the officers’ associations’ decision to convene the strike without notice hampering banking services. The method of the movement is wrong”, said the SBI staff Association zonal secretary Mr Pushpendu Chowdhury in Malda.
Acknowledging the inconvenience the strike was causing SBIOA leader Mr Himangshu banerjee , said: “ We understand the problem of the people but we had no alternative to save the service of the suspended officer. If the management accepts our demand we will call off the strike. But if they ignore our demand, the SBIOA would continue with the strike and spread it to other areas from Monday”.
- The SBIOA finally called off the strike on Saturday afternoon.
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