Those with accounts in nationalised banks will be affected because these banks will be shut for three days from Friday.
Private banks will function as usual, but nationalised banks will remain closed on Friday and Saturday due to the two-day strike called by United Forum of Banking Union (UFBU), the umbrella organisation of nine leading bank associations. And Sunday is a non-working day.
Those who have salary accounts in nationalised banks will be the worst hit.
“I got confirmation from our account office in Calcutta that the strike stands as the talks with Indian Banks’ Association has failed,” said Shashi Ranjan, an employee of a travel firm in Bistupur. “Hence, we will get our salary credited only on February 3. This will disturb our schedules as usually all bills including rent are paid on the second of every month.”
The UFBU had demanded among other things a 20 per cent wage hike on payslip components, and a five-day work week.
“We will resume duty on Monday,” said Rintu Rajak, Jamshedpur convener for the UFBU. “We apprehend that salary credit through RTGS would be affected. However, those opting for online transfer like NEFT can do it without difficulty.”
Sources in the bank unions also apprehend difficulties in ATM transactions after Saturday. “Usually, cash in the ATMs is refilled by outsourced private agency and they would do their work even if the banks are closed. However, after Saturday when ATMs are exhausted we doubt if the outsourced agencies will replenish the ATM as the bank chest would also be closed and open only on Monday,” said a senior banking official.
Other services which will be hit include cheque clearance, issuance of draft, and money deposit.
“I had to send a demand draft in the name of my son studying in a private engineering college in Mumbai but with news of bank strike I have no option but to request a distance relative to transfer the amount,” said Jagdish Singh, a Tata Steel employee and a resident of Sidhgora..
Officials, however, claimed that people would not be inconvenienced. “Apart from regular banking transactions all the banks have stocked enough cash in the ATMs to prevent any inconvenience to the customers,” said East Singhbhum lead district manager Anil Kumar, the coordinating person between the administration and banks. “Barring cheque clearance, other transactions can be done through net-banking. The number of people opting for net-banking is growing each day.”
