Mumbai bank staff cry foul as they are denied travel by local trains meant for ‘essential service providers’

Bankers in India’s financial capital are a disappointed lot. On Monday, they were not allowed to take the suburban trains to their workplaces — the services have been re-started to ferry ‘essential service providers’, and bankers apparently don’t make the cut.

While banking is an essential service, bank employees don’t figure in the list of essential staff who can travel by the local trains, which are the city’s lifeline.

The Railways on Monday resumed restricted local services after an 84-day pandemic-induced hiatus.

A list of essential staff identified by the State government and shared with the Railways included those belonging to the seven municipal corporations in the Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR), Mumbai police, Brihanmumbai Electric Supply & Transport Undertaking, Mantralaya, Central and State government offices and all government and private hospitals.

The unhappiness among the bank staff found its way to Twitter. Rajendra Borlakunta (@rajb484) tweeted: “As mentioned, essential services staff are allowed on local trains but the bank staff are not allowed to board train at Virar station on Western line...on enquiry at ticket counter we were denied ticket and reason was bank staff are not under essential services.”

Rohit Godbole (@Rohitgodbole1) tweeted: “@PiyushGoyal Pls confirm Bank employees r also part of essential services r thy allowed to travel in Local trains wid Proper ID Card.”

Long-term ordeal

According to Devidas Tuljapurkar, General Secretary, Maharashtra State Bank Employees Federation, ever since the lockdown started, it has been an ordeal for bank employees to commute to work in the Maximum City due to lack of public transport.

“Despite the grave risk to their lives due to the ongoing spread of the coronavirus, bankers are providing uninterrupted services. When the government wants bankers to play an effective role in reviving the economy, it is also its duty to ensure that they are not denied access to public transport,” he said.

Subhash Sawant, General Secretary, All India Central Bank Employees’ Congress, observed that when the government expects the economic warriors (bankers) to shoulder greater responsibility to implement the various Covid-related loan schemes, it should also remove all the hurdles in their way.

The Indian Banks’ Association should take up the issue of denial of access to suburban trains to bank staff with the State government, he added.

A host of banks such as State Bank of India, Bank of Baroda, Bank of India, Union Bank of India, ICICI Bank, HDFC Bank and Axis Bank have their headquarters in Mumbai.

There are about one lakh bank employees, many commuting by suburban trains, working in the MMR.

Published on June 15, 2020

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