TURA: The twin strike by the State Bank of India (SBI) and the Assam Petroleum Mazdoor Union in protest against separate incidents of militancy related violence crippled normal life in Garo Hills on Wednesday.
The SBI along with other Garo Hills banks on Wednesday went ahead with its indefinite strike in protest against the abduction of SBI official, Subodh Kr Mishra, while the petroleum union announced that its workers would cease operations into the region immediately following the broad daylight shooting of an employee of Rachel Petrol Pump at Bokmagre in the outskirts of Tura.
Meanwhile, the ongoing closure of all branches of SBI in the five districts of Garo Hills has been temporarily suspended by the employees from Wednesday evening.
The decision to suspend the agitation was taken by the employees association in view of the upcoming Independence Day celebrations which take place on Friday. “We have temporarily suspended our stir in view of the Independence Day celebrations and we will decide on our future course of action on Saturday after a meeting of our staff and officers associations,” informed the SBI employees’ union leaders to The Shillong Times on Wednesday evening shortly after announcing the decision to suspend the stir.
The SBI staff informed that the bank will remain open on Thursday and Saturday while Friday will remain closed in view of the national celebrations.
The Closure of the bank for the last three days has led to immense hardship to the people of Garo Hills, particularly the citizens of Tura with several thousand account holders uable to withdraw their savings in view of the strike.
To make matters worse, the Automatic Teller Machines (ATMs) of the bank were found wanting in their performance with many units shut down while others that remained open did not have any money in them.
The decision by other banking institutions, including the private and nationalised banks, to join the protest strike further compounded the problem leaving Garo Hills under a total financial shutdown.
On the other hand, Assam-based transporters on Wednesday decided to stop transportation of all petroleum products to Meghalaya from August 18 unless the state government provided tight security to drivers, specially in the Garo Hills region.
“The union has decided to boycott loading and unloading of petroleum products to Meghalaya from August 18,” Assam Petroleum Mazdoor Union general secretary Ramen Das said in a statement in Shillong.
