SBI employees stage a demonstation on the first day of the two-day nationwide bank strike in Bhubaneswar on Wednesday. Picture by Sanjib Mukherjee

Bhubaneswar, Aug. 22: The two-day bank strike that began today hit business transactions across Odisha. It left customers in need of banking services and large amounts of cash in dire straits.

Sources said business worth Rs 12,000 crore was affected on the first day of the strike in Odisha. The Odisha government had a small share in this with transactions worth Rs 400 crore being affected, according to Reserve Bank of India sources.

The state government’s director of treasuries and inspection P. Nath said: “All the business related to sales and commercial taxes were held up. However, no other business, not even pension disbursement was hit.” The pensioners turn up at the banks in the first week of every month.

Customers, who turned up at the banks unaware of the strike, had to return disappointed. “When I reached the bank for a challan I was told that the bank was closed. The agitation is putting people into all kinds of trouble,” said Tushar Ranjan Dash, a city businessman.

College students, too, suffered. Many were seen standing in front of the State Bank Of India branch of the Utkal University looking dejected. “The admissions are in progress and the strike is going to affect students who want demand drafts and challans,” said Arya Jena, one of the students.

Convener of the Odisha unit of the United Forum of Bank Unions (UFBU), an umbrella organisation of nine unions of employees and officers of PSU banks, Ganesh Chandra Mishra said: “Every day the state witnesses business transactions to the tune of nearly Rs 12,000 crore. All the transactions will be cleared once the strike is over.”

Nearly 27,000 employees of the nationalised banks and cooperative banks have joined the strike. However, the private sector banks have not officially joined it. They downed their shutters fearing a backlash from the public sector employees.

“We attended office. But as the public sector bank employees came and asked us to vacate the bank, we left,” said an employee of HDFC Bank.

The strikers are opposing banking sector reforms and out-sourcing of non-core activities affecting their operations. They are also against reforms and unilateral implementation of the Khandelwal committee report on human resources management in public sector banks.

Though almost all the nationalised banks were closed, their ATMs functioned smoothly. “As the ATMs are managed by private parties, they are functioning as usual. People did not have any problem in withdrawing their money to meet their emergency needs,” Mishra added.

He said: “ We have joined hands with the agitating bank employees in different parts of the country. We will not cooperate with the government’s policies of liberalisation, outsourcing and globalisation. The government’s move to outsource all the business of the bank will be opposed tooth and nail.”