City of locks in shutdown mode

THE STATE Bank of India employees? strike brought industrial and commercial activities to a standstill in Aligarh, famous for manufacture of locks. Despite a Delhi High Court directive restraining employees from hampering work, the State Bank of India strke entered the second day, paralysing clearance of cheques.

THE STATE Bank of India employees’ strike brought industrial and commercial activities to a standstill in Aligarh, famous for manufacture of locks.
Despite a Delhi High Court directive restraining employees from hampering work, the State Bank of India strke entered the second day, paralysing clearance of cheques. The hardware export business and the lock industry were the worst affected. Also, government employees were unable to draw their salaries.

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Due to non-clearance of cheques, the labour class faced hardship.
State Bank of India sources said the strike affected transactions worth Rs 275 crore in Agra division in the last two days. Business worth Rs 125 crore was hit on Monday alone.

ATMs also ran dry. This caused inconvenience to traders in particular.
The lock and hardware businesses in Aligarh have a turnover of Rs 3,000 crore. Due to non-clearance of cheques, exporters are not in a position to buy raw materials now. This will lead to a delay in meeting export orders.

All branches of the SBI wore a deserted look throughout the day.
Justifying the strike, State Bank of India Officers’ Staff Association district secretary Proran Deshmukh accused the Central Government of not paying heed to their demands.

Desmukh cited the government move to privatise and disinvest in profit-making companies, including nationalised banks, telecom and airports, as also the decision to merge the existing 26 nationalised banks, reducing their number to five to six. He also demanded strict implementation of all labour laws.