Day 2 of strike hits banking, port operations

Even though the impact of the second day of the nationwide strike was largely invisible in the city, the banking sector and port operations were completely paralysed.

Even though the impact of the second day of the nationwide strike was largely invisible in the city, the banking sector and port operations were completely paralysed.

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"The strike was successful as there was nearly 100% participation by bank employees," said Vishwas Utagi, general secretary, All India Bank of Employees Association. "Since workers of Reserve Bank of India also supported the strike, banking operations were crippled. It will take at least two-three working days to clear the backlog."

There were no activities at Mumbai Port and Jawaharlal Nehru Port due to participation of more than 17,000 dock workers in the city.

All India Transport and Dock Workers' Union issued a press release saying that the strike resulted in "loss of Rs50 crore in both ports of Mumbai".

Meanwhile, at the three regional transport office's (RTOs), routine work such as issuing of licences, renewal of fitness certificates, tax collection and new vehicle registration suffered due to unavailability of clerical staff.

Transport services remained unaffected. The BEST undertaking operated 97% scheduled services. "A total of 3,577 out of 3,673 scheduled services were operated till 2pm on Thursday," said Manoj Varade, BEST PRO.

Autorickshaw and taxi services remained normal. Three men attacked the Mumbai Autorickshaw Men's Union office in Goregaon (West). "We suspect this is because we didn't support the strike," said Shashank Rao, general secretary.