New Delhi, Dec 9 (IANS) The All India Bank Employees Association (AIBEA) on Friday cautioned e bank employees to be fully prepared to face the ire of the customers once they come to banks after a long weekend.
After an arduous week, the bank employees, along with many others, are greeted with a three-day long weekend, which includes a second Saturday off and Prophet Mohammad's birthday on Monday. But with hordes of customers already thronging banks each day, bank employees are expecting a flood on Tuesday, the day banks re-open.
"I suggest that they come with a chest-guard, an arm-guard, a helmet, because there are so many people who are yet to withdraw their salaries, the retirees, contract employees, and many others, and they would want their money," AIBEA General Secretary C.H. Venkatachalam told IANS from Chennai.
"RBI is rationing the money which it is supposed to give to the banks, in their turn banks are also giving rationed amount to the customers. After the three-day holiday, people would want their money, as they are quite strained already," he said.
A joint statement issued by AIBEA and All Indian Bank Officers' Association (AIBOA) also questioned shortage of cash in the public sector banks, and demanded Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to suspend dispensing any cash to banks until it has sufficient for all.
"Even though RBI is making statements that enough cash is being supplied to banks, in reality we all know that there is acute shortage of cash supply to banks from RBI," read the statement.
"If RBI is not able to supply adequate cash to banks, then decision should be taken to suspend cash transactions in the bank branches till sufficient cash is supplied to banks," it added.
Venkatachalam expressed concern over the abuses, rudeness, and crass comments that bank employees are being subjected to at the hands of irate customers.
"I just heard that people broke glass-panes of a bank in Jamshedpur and abused the staff. How long this is going to continue?" he asked.
The two associations have also penned a letter which they will give to RBI Governor Urjit Patel on December 14. They also announced a demonstration in all state capitals on the same day demanding proper compensation for bank employees for working long hours and bearing with the rudeness of the customers.
In the letter, they also raised the question that why are some private banks always found to be flush with cash and demanded answer from the RBI for such a bias.
"There are repeated allegations that RBI is supplying more number of currency notes to some private banks and public sector banks are being denied or supplied lesser number of currency notes. This becomes believable when we observe that many of the ATMs of some 'selected' private banks are functioning normally," they said, adding long lines continued to exist outside the other ATMs and banks.
