SBI officers' body opposes privatisation of PSU banks

Shimla, August 7

The issue of staff crunch and privatisation of public sector (PSU) banks came to the fore during the regional conference of the State Bank of India Officers’ Association (SBIOA) organised by the Chandigarh Circle here today.

All India State Bank officers’ Federation general secretary Soumya Datta highlighted how the bankers have stood various testing times like that of demonetisation, Jan Dhan Yojana and other government schemes and yet the government was bent on privatising these institutions.

Datta said public sector banks are the banks of workers, farmers, students, self-help groups and common people of India. “We oppose any move of the government to hand over these banks to corporates whose sole motive is to make profit. Over 4,000 bank branches have been closed and the number of employees has been reduced from 8.70 lakh to 7.50 lakh,” he said.

State Bank of India Officers Association general secretary Deepak Sharma said banks were facing connectivity and technology issues besides staff crunch and the aim of the conference was to enlighten the officers about the need for being united to have a concerted fight for their rights. The convention was attended by over 200 officers.

In the meeting, it was concluded that due to the mismatch in branch network augmentation and recruitment in the past two decades the situation had worsened and the staff shortage was affecting the work-life balance of the staff. The members said a list of defaulters should also be published.