Workers belonging to urban cooperative banks in Kolhapur, Maharashtra were on a token strike wearing black armbands during working hours to protest against the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) recommendations calling for conversion of banks with Rs 20,000 crore business into commercial ones, reports TOI.
The apex bank has stated that if such banks do not opt for conversion, they will face regulatory restrictions.
Around 8,000 people working in 49 such banks headquartered in Kolhapur participated in the strike. Besides, some 2,000 employees of 20 other urban cooperative banks having branches in Kolhapur also joined the protest.
Earlier, at a press conference in Delhi the National Federation of Urban Cooperative Banks and Credit Societies (Nafcub), the apex body of the cooperative lending organizations has opposed the recommendations made by a Reserve Bank of India (RBI) panel suggesting conversion of these bodies into regular private banks.
At a well-attended press conference in which Directors R B Shandilya, Laxmi Das, O P Sharma, Mudit Verma and others participated Nafcub President M L Abyankar warned that this would amount to handing over the 100-year-old cooperative movement to private hands.
Abhyankar had said the Board as well as the General Body of NAFCUB have already passed a resolution rejecting the RBI’s Panel recommendations on the issue and the same would be followed by the AGM of each UCB in the country.