Bank unions say: ATMs are part of banking network, so can’t operate

The public sector banks are on strike for two days due to which all the banking transactions have come to stop for two days. On Wednesday when a call for strike was made the ATMs were not included in the strike so most of the banks had loaded their ATMs so that public don’t find difficulty in case of cash. But on Thursday first day of the strike the union forcefully got most of the ATMs in the city including off-sites shutdown.

Thus on the second day the few that will be opened might run out of cash. SBI spokesperson informed in Kolkata most of its 260 ATMs remained closed due to the strike. He said, "We had refilled money but could not operate the ATMs due to protest by strikers". An Axis bank official also gave the same reason however ICICI bank spokesperson stated that they had closed the ATMs due to security reasons.

Most of the banks with large ATM networks had loaded most of their ATMs on Wednesday evening but bank union people forced the security guards to shut down the ATMs shutters of majority of onsite and off-site ATMs. Bank unions justifying the shutdown of ATMs Ashok Mukherjee, secretary of SBI Staff Association said, "ATMs are part of banking network. So, they can't operate during a bank strike". He added, "We have no option as IBA and the Centre have refused to listen to our demands."

He pointed out the 29 PSU banks are having a consolidated net profit of Rs 33,000 crore, then also they are not ready to contribute Rs 4,200 crore to the pension fund of bank employees. The United Forum of Bank Unions is demanding 20% hike in salary but IBA is giving a hike of 17.5%.

Therefore today being the second day of strike people will probably find difficulty in getting cash from ATMs.