Bank employees across Madhya Pradesh strike, halting operations at around 7,000 bank branches on Friday. The protest disrupts cash deposits and withdrawals, cheque clearance, fixed deposit renewals and government treasury-related work. The affected activities involve an estimated daily business of about Rs 5,500 crore in the state, according to a bank employees’ organisation.
Employees participating include about 42,000 officers and workers from nearly 7,000 of MP’s 8,707 bank branches. Sources say the strike includes staff from 12 public sector banks, various regional rural banks and cooperative banks. Organisers state employees protest for implementation of a five-day work week and for pending issues related to pension benefits. Additional demands include improving and updating pension benefits, applying a uniform system for calculating dearness allowance for pensioners, and allowing National Pension System (NPS) covered employees an option to switch to the old pension scheme.
While both outlets describe similar operational disruption, they differ mainly in emphasis: one highlights the scale of branches and employees and the estimated business impact, while the other provides more detail on the participating bank types and the specific workplace functions affected.
