Lucknow: Transactions worth hundreds of crores in public sector banks (PSBs) were hit on the second day of the bank employees strike on Tuesday. The situation is expected to be normal on Wednesday.
While many ATMs out of 990 run by various PSBs ran out of cash, other services like issuance of bank drafts and KYC registration among others were also hit.
People had a tough time because banks were closed on Sunday because of weekly off followed by strike on Monday and Tuesday.
An estimated 10,000 employees in 905 branches of various PSBs in the district took part in the two-day strike call by the United Forum of Banks Union against Centre’s move to privatise two PSBs in the country.
UFBU spokesperson Anil Tiwari claimed that more than 700 ATM’s of 990 in Lucknow were left with no cash by Tuesday evening. Overall, transactions of about 5,000 crore in Lucknow and 60,000 crore in UP were affected because of the strike, he added.
Vijayant Singh who holds an account in a bank at Sapru Marg said, ”Most ATMs are out of cash. I checked a lot of ATMs from Hazratganj to Aliganj either they do not contain cash or their shutter is down.”
“I have been waiting for the past two days to take out some cash. However, most of the slots have gone empty. I am in desperate need of cash as I have to go out on a business trip tomorrow. Why should common people suffer in the tussle between bank unions and government,” said Ashok Sakya in Hazratganj.
Many who had come for other official work at the bank were seen going back disappointed.
A senior officer at the headquarters of a nationalised bank in Hazratganj, said “Several services like ATM slots, KYC registrations, demand drafts have been affected. The situation is expected to return to normal from Wednesday.”
Assistant Manager of a bank Priyanka Mehra said, “We are managing the workload with the number of employees we have as of now. However, the ATM slots are not being filled time to time due to the strike. The situation will set to normal on Wednesday.”
