A closed bank on Frazer Road in Patna on Friday. Picture by Deepak Kumar

Patna, Aug. 5: A daylong strike by public sector undertaking banks badly affected banking operations in Bihar, leaving the common man and the trading community in the lurch.

About 10 lakh officers and employees of all public sector banks under the banner of United Forum of Bank Unions (UFBU) comprising nine trade unions went on a nationwide daylong strike to press their long wish list.

The bank employees and officers were on strike to protest against the central government’s decision of carrying out banking sector reforms and privatisation of nationalised banks. Though private banks and foreign banks were not the part of the strike, the striking bank employees forcibly closed branches of private banks and especially the automated teller machines (ATMs). ATMs, the only hope for the people in need of money, were especially on the target of striking employees who forcefully downed the shutters of ATMs of all banks, be it of PSUs or private banks. The union had made it clear that ATMs would be spared from the strike, as their intention was not to put customers in to difficulty.

The magnitude of the impact of the strike could be gauged from the fact banks and ATMs were closed at almost all major thoroughfares and commercial places, including Boring Road, Boring Canal Road, Bailey Road, Station Road, Frazer Road, Gandhi Maidan.

“We are on the job but owing to the strike, people are not coming to the branch. Taking part in the strike implies loss of a day’s salary,” said an official of Boring Road branch of HDFC. The common man found it hard to withdraw money or to get cheques cleared. People, in dire need of money, were found hunting for an ATM to withdraw cash.

“I have been searching for a working ATM in Machchua Toli, Nala Road, Station Road and Frazer Road. Finally, I got a working ATM at Gandhi Maidan. I thought my bike would run out of fuel,” said Sudhakar Singh, an engineering student in Bangalore. “Business and trading have been badly affected,” Subhash K. Patwari, told The Telegraph.

UFBU state convener P.D. Singh said the strike hampered business transactions worth Rs 700 crore to Rs 800 crore. Singh said about 25,000 employees and officers of PSU banks spread in around more than 3,000 branches across the state took part in the strike.