Karwar: Members of the District Bank Employees Association here staged a protest in front of the State Bank of India’s regional office, in the City, on Wednesday.

The protest was part of nation-wide strike called by the parent body against the measly 2% salary hike that has been proposed by the Indian Banks’ Association (IBA).

Decent hike

Association district President Vinod Bandekar said, Indian Banks’ Association (IBA) has failed to provide decent hike to them.

He said, bank employees have worked promptly and effectively for the implementation of various schemes of the Centre including Jan Dhan, demonetisation, Mudra, Atal pension scheme for the past one year.

When Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced demonetisation of Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes, employees were forced to work on holidays due to work pressure. But the Centre is not keen to hike salary by 10%, he charged.

Manage expenditures

Salary hike is essential for employees in any sector to manage their expenditures.

A recommendation has been sent to increase the salary of central government employees.

The salaries of Member of Parliament, MLAs increases without discussions. But, when it comes to bank employees, they are deprived of salary hike giving reasons of lack of profit, he added.