5 days ago
Retd bank staffers stage hunger strike, demand pension updation
HYDERABAD: More than a thousand retired bank employees held a hunger strike and a mass protest at Indira Park on Monday, demanding the immediate implementation of long-overdue pension updation.
Organised by the Coordination of Bank Pensioners and Retirees Organisations (CBPRO) and the All India Bank Pensioners' and Retirees' Confederation (AIBPARC), the protest saw participation from pensioners of public sector, State Bank of India, and select private sector banks.
The protesters are pressing for several key demands, most notably the implementation of pension updation as mandated by statutory Pension Regulation 35(1).
They highlighted that this has been delayed for nearly three decades, even though the pension corpus fund holds a substantial Rs 4.5 lakh crore. In addition to pension updation, the protesters demanded inclusion of special allowance in the calculation of gratuity and basic pension, extension of pension option to the small number of retirees who were previously left out, grant of consultative status to apex-level bank pensioners' and retirees' organisations and urged banks to cover the cost of the health insurance premium for the base policy. Addressing the crowd, K. Madhusudan, Secretary of AIBPARC's AP and TS Unit, lamented the indignities and discrimination faced by retirees, whose average age is over 75. He stated that despite their significant contributions to the banking industry, the government has shown little sympathy, forcing them to protest on the streets for their rights.
