Karnal,
Officials of different banks under the banner of the All-India Bank Officers’ Confederation (AIBOC) staged a dharna at Sector 12 here today against privatisation and merger of public sector banks. They asked the Central government not to write off non-performing assets (NPAs) of companies, to declare willful defaulters as criminal offenders and implement the recommendations of a Parliament committee on NPAs and other issues. They announced to go on a two-day strike in September and a four-day strike either in November or December. If their demands were not met, they would go on an indefinite strike. Besides, they demanded scrapping of the proposed Financial Resolution and Deposit Insurance Bill and the bank board bureau and fixing of responsibility of the higher management for huge amount defaults.

State secretary Lalit Arora said banks employees had been witnessing a tough time due to impractical rules of the government. The employees had been demanding salary as recommended by the Pay Commission and pension as given to RBI and government employees, but they have only got assurances, he added.