Akhilesh Chandra Saxena
Nainital: Nainital Bank employees have been agitating for the last several months regarding their various demands and will be on strike on the coming 27th.
Nainital Bank, which is a subsidiary bank of Bank of Baroda, in which Bank of Baroda has 98.57% shareholding. Now Bank of Baroda is working on the process of giving the operation of Nainital Bank to private hands by selling its shareholding, due to which there is anger among the employees of the bank. Nainital Bank has been working for the last 102 years like other public sector banks, due to which the Reserve Bank of India has previously ordered Bank of Baroda several times to acquire Nainital Bank and merge it with itself and in June 2022 once again RBI has written a letter to the Ministry of Finance and has given its recommendation for the merger of Nainital Bank with Bank of Baroda or any other public sector bank.
Nainital Bank employees allege that Bank of Baroda has been trying to sell the banking license of Nainital Bank to private hands since 2017, as a result of which the employees of Nainital Bank took the matter to the Petition Committee of the Lok Sabha. The digital venture that was started to reduce shareholding cost the bank around Rs 10 crore.
In the investigation of the Petition Committee of the 16th Lok Sabha, irregularities were found in the said digital venture, due to which it was closed and the committee recommended the merger of Nainital Bank with Bank of Baroda in the year 2018, and in the year 2020, the Petition Committee of the 17th Lok Sabha once again ordered the Finance Ministry to merge Nainital Bank with Bank of Baroda, but till now no action has been taken on the said recommendation, regarding which a delegation of Nainital Bank employees, led by MP Anil Baluni, also met Finance Minister Smt. Nirmala Sitharaman in the month of January. Then the Finance Minister had assured action on this after the elections.
The employees and officers organization of Nainital Bank jointly gave their demand letter to the bank management on August 8, 2024 under the Nainital Bank United Forum and gave a notice of a one-day symbolic strike on August 27 if their demands were not met, but even after the mediation of Assistant Labor Commissioner- Kanpur on August 14, 2024, the bank management did not show any positive attitude on the demands of the employees and the talks failed.
Praveen Sah, General Secretary of the Employees Organization, said that tampering with the future of the employees of the bank will not be tolerated. The bank has been functioning like public sector banks for 102 years. Stopping the disinvestment of Nainital Bank, it should be merged with Bank of Baroda or any other public sector bank as recommended by the Reserve Bank of India in June 2022 by writing a letter to the Finance Ministry. He further said that he will fight a do-or-die battle for the secure future of the employees, for which he will definitely take to the streets even if he has to.
On the other hand, the General Secretary of the Officers’ Organization, Piyush Payal, said that the main demands of the employees are as follows – * Stop selling Nainital Bank to private hands in the name of disinvestment * Ensure a secure future for bank employees * Stop unilateral changes in the service conditions of employees * Secure the service conditions of employees * Implement the recommendations of the Petition Committee (Lok Sabha) * Implement the recommendations of the Reserve Bank (RBI) * Stop playing with the future of employees and officers * Stop selling banking licenses in the name of disinvestment * Investigate the irregularities in digital ventures and IT upgradation * Withdraw the suspension of officers suspended without completing the investigation * Stop recruiting employees without written examination Piyush Payal further said that all the employees and officers are working with black bands tied on their hands in protest. Bank of Baroda and Nainital Bank management are adopting a lax attitude towards our demands. Our strike on 27th August is symbolic, if the demands are not met then we will have to take more stringent steps which include indefinite strike for which Bank of Baroda management and Nainital Bank management will be fully responsible.
