Officers and other employees of the Reserve Bank of India will strike work on January 1, 2013, to protest against the decision to close counters for issue of currency notes and coins.
The apex bank had earlier announced that about 200 counters currently being operated in its offices across the country would be closed down from January 1.
"This will cause inconvenience not only to the general public but would also make over 1,000 staff of the RBI currently manning these counters as surplus," B. Lohidas, Vice-President, All India Reserve Bank Employees Association, told newspersons at a press conference here on Saturday.
As of now, about 90 per cent of exchange of notes in the country was being done through RBI counters while remaining 10 per cent was handled by the commercial banks, he said.
G. Jagadish, Chief Secretary, Reserve Bank Workers Union, claimed that the RBI’s justification to close the counters by citing global practice was "incorrect".
G. Kranti, Secretary, RBI Employees Association, said except about 1,000 senior officers all others would participate in the strike and all transactions of the RBI including clearing would be halted on January 1 because of the proposed strike.