Ongole: Bank staff demands Central government to stop privatisation of banks

Ongole: The members of nine bank employees and officers unions under the United Forum of Bank Unions demanded the Central government to stop the measures to privatise the nationalised banks in the country.

As part of the two-day strike, the bankers organised a motorbike rally through the streets of the Ongole town on Friday. The rally started from Mini Stadium and went on through Church Centre, Trunk Road, Old Market, Addanki Bus Stand centre, RTC depot, Mangamur Road, Court Centre and reached the Collectorate centre, where they formed a human chain.

Speaking at the programme, the UFBU Prakasam district convenor V Ramachandra Rao said that the Union government is planning to privatise two banks in the ongoing session of Parliament, and the bankers are demanding to take back the proposal.

He announced that they would plan for an indefinite strike if the government didn't listen to their demands. He said that by privatisation of banks, Adani, Ambani and other friends of Narendra Modi's government will take the profits. The banks must be in the public sector only to benefit people.

The Union Bank Employees Union regional secretary, K Rajiv Ratan said that there were less than 8,000 branches of banks in the country when the nationalisation of banks was done in 1969, but the number of branches of nationalised banks in the country today is more than 1,18,000 and are at the forefront in public service. He said that the government is not only introducing the bill to privatise the banks but is also allowing the corporate companies to set up banks.

If that happened, he feared the money from the public will be at the stake of the corporate companies and the poor and middleclass are at the losers end.

The members of workers unions like AITUC, CITU, IFTU, AIFTU, farmers unions, political parties also extended support to the bankers' strike and participated in the protests.

The Prakasam district Bank Retirees Federation general secretary, PK Rajeswara Rao, AIBEA leaders Venugopal, Narendra, Rakesh Kiran, GV Subbareddy, NCBE leaders Narendra, Kiran, AIBOC leaders Srinivasa Rao, Raviprakash, Rajesh Khanna, BEFI leader Surendra and others led their organisations in the protest.